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American Morning

James O'Keefe May be Charged With Felony; Toyota Recalling Popular Vehicles, Shutting Down Production; President Preps for First State of the Union; Obama's State of the Union Address to Focus on Economy; Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk: Waste or Money Well Spent?; Taliban's Key Role in Finding Peace in Afghanistan; Middle Class Angst in America

Aired January 27, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam Speaker, the president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's what we'll be hearing later on tonight. Meanwhile, deficits are going up, approval ratings are going down, and President Obama will come to the nation with a plan to freeze both tonight in his first official state of the union address.

And good morning to you, and welcome to "AMERICAN MORNING" on this Wednesday, January 27th. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, I'm John Roberts. Thanks for joining us. Here are the stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.

Toyota, taking extreme measures to tackle a safety issue. The world's largest automaker is telling its dealerships to immediately stop selling eight of its most popular models and also ordering several plants to shut down while the company figures out how to fix millions of potentially dangerous gas pedals.

The man who posed as a pimp to try to catch the community organizing group ACORN in the act is now in some trouble of his own. He's accused of a plot to tamper with the phone lines in a senator's office, possibly a felony. We're live in Washington with more details on what exactly this plan was and the reaction.

ROBERTS: And all week long we're looking at where the money from the stimulus plan is going. This morning we uncover millions being spent to rebuild a boardwalk in a town that often calls itself the nation's summer capital. Is it money well spent? We hit the beach to find out.

CHETRY: Our top story this morning, Toyota now ordering dealerships across the country to stop selling eight of its top models immediately. The problem is the gas pedals that could stick, making the cars difficult to stop.

The world's largest automaker deciding now to shut down several plants and to slam the brakes on sales of its cars until the problem is fixed. Our Allan Chernoff joins us live from Washington. And, you know, these sound like extreme measures, the results possibly devastating for Toyota's bottom line. What's the latest, Allan?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it could be a hit in the short term to the bottom line, but Toyota is hoping long-term this is actually going to help the company's image. Only six days ago it recalled these vehicles. That's a fairly common step. But to now pull them off the market? A big, extreme make by Toyota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: Toyota is putting a "not for sale" sign on some of the most popular vehicles in America. Eight models are affected, all were recalled just six days ago because the accelerator can get stuck in a partly-depressed position, or it may return too slowly to an idle position.

RICK NEWMAN, "U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT": It's so unusual. It's not just a recall, which is expensive. They're actually going to stop selling some of their most popular models, which means they'll lose a lot of money.

CHERNOFF: The models affected include RAV 4, Corolla, some Camrys, Avalon, Matrix, Highlander, Tundra, and Sequoia. In a statement, Toyota said "Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company. This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized."

All of the vehicles are made in North America, plants in Indiana, Texas, Kentucky, and Canada. Toyota says rather than immediately stopping production, it will keep assembly lines running until next week to allow time to notify suppliers, and then it will fix all vehicles.

NEWMAN: Whether they lose their customers is really what's totally at stake here. So it's clear they have a problem. It's clear they have a quality problem, and what will define how well they rebound is how well they handle this.

CHERNOFF: Toyota's problems may present an opportunity for troubled American auto companies to gain sales, especially since many consumers perceive Japanese vehicles as more reliable than American cars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: This is reminding many business analysts of the Tylenol recall back in 1982 when Johnson & Johnson pulled all Tylenol off the shelf because of a tampering case and poisoning of Tylenol. In the long-term, Tylenol's image was very strong as a result. Certainly Toyota is hoping that's the case here.

But in the short term, no question, Kiran, this really could hurt their profits.

CHETRY: Absolutely. Wow, all right. And thanks, Allan.

Toyota's reputation for quality and its bottom line, as Allan was talking about, could take a hit as well. Look at numbers now. The eight models impacted by the gas pedal accelerator problem make up 57 percent of Toyota's total sales. Toyota's stock taking a three percent hit as well in after hours trading last night.

ROBERTS: In the meantime, some good news over at Ford, which is announcing it's going to hire 1,200 workers to launch production at next year's Explorer SUV. The full-timers will consist of previously laid off workers and some new hires as well. The Detroit-based automaker will invest nearly $400 million in two Chicago plants.

The project is also backed by nearly $6 billion in loans from the U.S. Energy Department to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

CHETRY: And a different story at Verizon. The country's largest cell phone carrier slashing 13,000 jobs this year after its fourth quarter revenue fell short of projected estimates. To blame, the stalled economy and declines in the landline division, the layoffs coming after Verizon cut 17,000 jobs from its landline and wireless divisions last year.

ROBERTS: There are new developments this morning in an alleged scheme to mess with a senator's phones. Four men had been accused of a plot to tamper with the phone lines at Democrat Mary Landrieu's office in Louisiana. One of the men, James O'Keefe, you may remember him as the pimp from the undercover ACORN videos.

Brianna Keiler has new developments live from Washington this morning, and Brianna, first of all, walk us through what happened.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, can you not make these details up. The FBI says two of these four men went into Senator Landrieu's New Orleans office posing as phone company technicians. The whole nine yards -- they were wearing work shirts, work pants. They had on reflective vests, tool belts. They were holding hardhats.

And they were actually given access to the phone at the front desk. According to the FBI affidavit, one of them looked at the phone and said that there was something the matter with the phone system in the office and they would have to access that.

And during this time, John, as you see there, that man, James O'Keefe, third to the right, he, according to the FBI, was actually recording some of this with his cell phone camera. And he and a fourth man have been charged with assisting in this operation, John.

ROBERTS: Now, of course he likes to record a lot of things. We recall that he was the fellow who walked in with the woman into one of those ACORN offices posing as a pimp. She is a prostitute asking for tax advice about running a brothel. KEILAR: That's right. And they actually became a bit of a darling of some conservatives because a lot of conservatives had said that the ACORN group was corrupt. And really that video seemed to kind of prove that point.

But let's take a listen to what he said. A reporter with our CNN affiliate, WWL, actually caught up with O'Keefe after he was charged yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have anything to say about the charges against you? Why were you in Senator Landrieu's office?

JAMES O'KEEFE, SUSPECT: The truth shall set me free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And, John, the other interesting thing is he's not the only other person of note here. One of the other suspects, Robert Flanagan, is the son of the acting U.S. attorney for the western district of Louisiana.

ROBERTS: So how were they caught? They seemed to, you know, pretty much put it over on the folks there at the office. Did somebody suddenly get suspicious?

KEILAR: It seems someone did get suspicious, and that's when it seems, according to the affidavit, that the senators -- someone in the senator's office said you're going to have to check with the building staff, because this is actually a federal building in New Orleans where Senator Landrieu has her offices, and so someone from the building staff asked for credentials.

And it seems their story really unraveled from there. The FBI got involved, and now they're facing very serious felony charges.

ROBERTS: It's always when they ask for the credentials that the story comes unraveling. Brianna Keiler for us this morning, Brianna, thanks.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, another political drama unfolding. A former aide to John Edwards says in a new book that the presidential candidate talked about leaving his wife while she was fighting cancer.

Andrew Young's tell-all, "The Politician," is not in bookstores until Saturday. "The Wall Street Journal" previewed his account of the Edwards scandal. Young says Edwards asked him to go into hiding with his mistress Reille Hunter. John Edwards last week acknowledged for the first time that he did father a child with Hunter.

ROBERTS: People had been waiting and speculating, and in just a few hours Apple is expected to unveil its newest creation, the Apple Tablet. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is said to be very pleased with the final result after killing several earlier efforts. It's expected to have a ten-inch touch screen that delivers music, video, text, navigation, and social networking applications.

CHETRY: And a major winter storm is set to slam the southern plains. It's already dumping some snow in southern California, parts of New Mexico, Texas. Oklahoma could also be cased in ice over the next few days.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROBERTS: Big state of the union address tonight. Our Suzanne Malveaux breaks down what the president has on his plate this evening and how he's going to tackle some of the, shall we say difficult problems that are facing him this year.

It's 10 minutes now after the hour.

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CHETRY: That's a visual picture of all that's going on in the world today. Well, it's 12 minutes past the hour, and this morning the president's going to be putting the finishing touches on his first state of the union address. And the goal is to get his stalled political agenda moving again and get the American people backing him again.

ROBERTS: The latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 50 percent of those surveyed disapprove of the job the president is doing. Our Suzanne Malveaux spoke with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just minutes ago about tonight's speech. What did he tell you?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: When you look at those numbers it really is dramatic. It's stunning, because covering him during the campaign there was so much hope, there was an excitement about change, and faith not only in the president but also in the government, the role of government itself. Now you've got these approval ratings that quite dramatically have dipped.

What Robert Gibbs said and what I found so refreshing during the campaign was that this was a candidate who said if I made a mistake I will acknowledge it. I will bring it forward and I will learn from my mistakes.

So I pressed Robert Gibbs, is the president going to acknowledge some lessons learned from this year? He's got to pick up his legislative agenda, healthcare reform. How is he going to appeal to the American people and say, you know what, believe in me again, believe in this government. Here's what Robert Gibbs said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If the president acknowledged and this team acknowledged all the mistakes we've made in the first year, we'd have to ask you guys for far more time than we've asked you for to deliver the speech. What I think the president's going to spend about two-thirds of his time in the speech tonight is walking the American people through his plans to get our economy further back on track, to outline plans for small businesses to begin hiring workers again, to make retirements more secure and college more affordable. I think those are the topics that the president will spend the most time on tonight.

I think he will talk about the fact that he wishes that we could get two political parties to work better with each other to solve the problems of the American people.

We don't have a choice, Suzanne, but to do that. We now have 59 votes in the Senate, the Democrats do, which means the Republicans are part of the -- they are responsible now for part of governing this country in a way they might not have been before. And I think we'll see how that changes some actions on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So what the president is going to emphasize is that, yes, he does take some responsibility. He acknowledges and he will acknowledge mistakes made.

But if you listen to Robert Gibbs, they're also squarely putting some of the responsibility on the Republican Party and said, look, the Democrats have lost their supermajority here in the Senate, so we invite you, we implore you, Republicans, get involved in the process of governing.

You are now partly responsible for the problems that we share in this country. We're holding you responsible for your role. Come up with some ideas that this president and the Democrats can work with.

ROBERTS: So a humble message, admitting mistakes, unlike President Bush who was asked, I think, it was 2004, to name a mistake and he said, I can't think of anything right now.

MALVEAUX: That's right.

ROBERTS: But you know, people are not looking for a blame game here, they're looking for plans. They're looking for results.

MALVEAUX: And one of the things that they're going to emphasize, the president is going to talk about, is that there are ideas from the Republican Party as well as the Democratic Party that this administration and Americans can embrace. So you're talking about tax credits for kids. You're talking about aid for elderly. You're talking about $4 billion for education. These are things that both parties can get with.

And also health care reform. Obviously, it's going to be a much scaled-down version of what the president had hoped for. But most people in both parties can acknowledge and realize that the real reforms for health care insurance companies that need to go forward, he's going to be stressing that as well.

ROBERTS: All right. Suzanne, thanks so much.

ROBERTS: So what do you want to hear from the president tonight? We'd like to know. Go to our blog at CNN.com/amFIX and tell us. CNN, of course, will carry the president's State of the Union address live. Tonight's primetime coverage begins at 8:00 Eastern with the best political team on television. The speech itself actually at 9:00.

CHETRY: All right. And still ahead, Rehoboth Beach getting millions in stimulus dollars. There are some who say it's a great thing. Repair the boardwalk because a lot of tourists love to go there. Others say it's a waste of tax dollars.

Christine Romans takes a look at both sides. We're continuing with "The Stimulus Project."

Sixteen minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: It is now 20 minutes past the hour. It means it's time for "Minding Your Business."

ROBERTS: Time for "The Stimulus Project" this morning, and since it's your tax dollars on the line, we're tracking the money for you to see if it's being spent wisely.

CHETRY: Our Christine Romans joins us live now. She's been tracking projects both big and small all across the county for a look at where your money is actually going.

And, Christine, you're focusing now on three different areas.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look, this stimulus is so massive. There's some small towns even that have big projects and small projects right next door to each other.

I want to show you this one, 75 miles from Albuquerque. This is Grants, New Mexico. Look at this big project here. $3.91 million for an environmental cleanup. This is clean up in groundwater, I think. Grants, New Mexico, that's a big one.

Not very far away, you've got 20 grand for an early intervention program for babies and toddlers with disabilities. So that's in Grants, New Mexico.

You go up to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and you can see here there's a big project. This is actually the small one, $196,000 for door replacement and bathroom remodel. This is for a U.S. Forest Service office, so doing some renovations there.

And this is the huge one, a waste water treatment plant, almost $16 million. So two projects right in the same backyard, one with a big price tag, one with a very small price tag, and very, very different programs.

And here in Rehoboth Beach, we found one multimillion dollar project and one much more modest program, but both of these programs making a difference for the same woman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: How long have you lived here?

ELEANOR WAILY (ph), WEST REHOBOTH RESIDENT: About 20 -- about 20, 25 years.

ROMANS: Wow.

(voice-over): Eleanor Waily (ph) lives in West Rehoboth, Delaware, where most people make less than $20,000 a year and some homes have no running water. Waily (ph), thankfully does. But after her bathtub cracked a couple years ago, it leaked water and ruined her insulation.

WAILY (ph): And my husband tried to fix it up, you know, paint it up or whatever. But as the water came down, it ruined all of that. And so -- so the hot air in the house just goes out.

ROMANS: It took $230 a month to heat her small home, but today her bathroom has been repaired and her bill is down $40. All thanks to your stimulus money. Waily (ph) is vice president of the West Rehoboth Community Land Trust and helped get a $130,000 stimulus grant to weatherize homes here. It's also training residents to do the work themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's stimulus in terms of giving people a better standard of living and hopefully it will actually put some people into the economy on a long-term basis.

ROMANS: But this isn't the only stimulus program helping out Waily (ph) and her neighbors. Just two miles down the road is Rehoboth Beach, a summer resort for Washington's elite. It may be the dead of winter but the beach is hopping with construction workers, rebuilding the town's boardwalk with $5.5 million stimulus.

(on camera): This project wouldn't be happening right now without the federal stimulus dollars.

STAN MILLS, COMMISSIONER, CITY OF REHOBOTH BEACH: Absolutely. Meaning there would be no workers here, there would be no workers potentially even getting paychecks. So --

ROMANS (voice-over): City Commissioner Stan Mills says the boardwalk, parts of it more than 50 years old, was in bad shape.

(on camera): So when you heard about the stimulus project, you immediately thought we have a shovel-ready project just waiting for federal dollars. We could put people to work right away.

MILLS: Absolutely.

ROMANS (voice-over): Mills says, besides creating jobs now, a new boardwalk will mean more tourists this summer. But stimulus dollars for tourism? The project landed on a Republican list of wasteful projects, and a local citizen, a Democrat, staged a small protest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't make sense to me. The concept of using money to build this boardwalk when it was already functional.

ROMANS: But back across town, Eleanor Waily says the boardwalk project is important for her livelihood. She works in the resort town, like many of her neighbors, and depends on tourism.

Some people say this whole stimulus thing is a waste. This isn't a waste for you.

WAILY: Oh, my god, no. I think it's the best thing that could have happened to, not only for me, but other residents that's living here in the community.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Eleanor Waily (ph) is benefiting from both. Her home is about to get new windows. She's getting job experience, and she works summers on the boardwalk.

The cost to rebuild the boardwalk? Over $5.5 million. The Delaware Department of Transportation tells us it's creating the equivalent of 31 full-time jobs. I say equivalent because some of these people are working part-time. Altogether it would be 31 full- time jobs, if you counted it that way. And the West Rehoboth weather and training project costs $130,000 and has recreated one full-time job.

ROBERTS: Actually, the boardwalk project is pretty efficient in creating jobs. Yesterday you have a $100 million project, created 194 jobs. This is 5.5 million, 31.

ROMANS: They were ready to go right away. They've done four blocks. They were ready. They had the plans. They were ready to put people to work immediately.

When we were there, it was the dead of winter and it was hopping with construction workers.

CHETRY: Yes.

ROMANS: There may be 40 people there when we were there, so they got people to work right away. They're hoping to be done by the time the season opens I guess Memorial Day, right?

CHETRY: Yes. That's when it all happens. I got married not far from there. It's a very popular place. It brings in a ton of money to tourist -- you know, the tourist industry brings in a ton of money for the locals.

ROMANS: And Eleanor works in a restaurant that does the breakfast for a hotel, the room service breakfast for a hotel. So when it starts to hop again, she -- you know, she said, look, we like to have more money in my little part of the community, we really would. But I can't begrudge them the 5.5 million because I work there too. So it's incredibly important for both parts of town, really.

CHETRY: It's a ripple effect, too.

ROMANS: Exactly.

ROBERTS: Interesting look at it. Thanks, Christine.

CHETRY: There you go, Christine.

Well, also tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, a bridge. It was built to make residents safer, but we're going to talk about why folks in one small town are calling it a complete waste of their money. "The Stimulus Project" all this week on CNN and at CNN.com/stimulus.

It's 25 minutes past the hour.

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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's about 27 1/2 minutes after the hour. Your top stories just two and a half minutes away. But first, an "A.M. Original," something that you'll see only here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Right now, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in London to kick start two days of high-stakes meetings. First on Yemen, then tomorrow on Afghanistan.

These conferences are so critical, that Secretary Clinton is missing President Obama's very first State of the Union address tonight. So far, at least 858 American troops have lost their lives in the war in Afghanistan. But as Barbara Starr reports, ending the bloodshed in Afghanistan will depend on cooperation from the enemy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than eight years of war in Afghanistan. World leaders will gather Thursday for another international conference. Representatives of 60 nations will meet in London to focus on that well-used phrase, the way ahead in a war that is not going well.

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: As you know, more U.S. forces are headed to Afghanistan to increase pressure on the Taliban and reverse a deteriorating security situation.

STARR: There will be talk of sending more troops and more trainers for the Afghans. But after so many years of war, this conference will focus heavily on trying to reach a peace with at least some Taliban fighters. Senator Carl Levin just returned from Afghanistan.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), CHAIR, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Another thing to watch is whether or not President Karzai and we can come up with a program for reintegration of those lower level Taliban which will chip away at the power at the Taliban and help to support the efforts of the Afghan security forces. STARR: U.S. commanders acknowledge the need to bring at least some lower level Taliban leaders into the political and social fabric of Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal, the top military commander, when asked if the Taliban could play a role in the future of Afghanistan said, "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future and not the past."

(on camera): But reality remains harsh. U.S. troops continue their push into Helmand province in the south. The next target? The Marjah area, yet another Taliban stronghold. And across the border in Pakistan, in North Waziristan, bad news. The Pakistani military has told the U.S. it's delayed further combat operations here.

(voice-over): That will give insurgents more time to consolidate and possibly launch new attacks into Afghanistan. U.S. military intelligence calculates the Taliban now have shadow governments in 33 of 34 provinces, raising questions about whether they see a need to even come to the negotiating table.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: So, John, what are we really talking about, reconciliation, reintegration of the Taliban? What U.S. officials say is it's all about money and jobs to bring some of these lower-level fighters back into the fold, if you will. But what about the big guns? What about number one there, Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader who gave shelter to Osama Bin Laden for so many years?

What if he wanted to come back into the fold? Would the U.S. even continue to support the government of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan if Mullah Omar came back and right now, of course, the Taliban seem to think they're doing pretty well. So they may not even be interested in this whole idea of reconciliation. John.

ROBERTS: Yes. I mean, it tends to be in Afghanistan to throw your lot in with the side you think is winning, even if they might not be. Barbara Starr for us this morning. Barbara, thanks so much.

That brings us to half past the hour now. And that means it's time for this morning's top stories.

An unprecedented move by Toyota, a week after recalling more than two million cars for a sticky gas pedal. Toyota now halting the sale and production of some of its most popular models, among them the RAV4, the Corolla, the Matrix, the Highlander and the Camry. The eight models affects make up 57 percent of the company's total sales. Toyota says there are no confirmed deaths that have been linked to the defect.

CHETRY: The State Department saying it is deeply concerned about the welfare of three American hikers detained in Iran still. Two Belgian tourists recently freed from captivity say they had contact with the Americans and they believe they're under intense psychological pressure to confess to crimes they did not commit. The hikers, you may remember, were arrested in fact in July after crossing into Iran from Kurdistan in Iraq. They now face trial for espionage. ROBERTS: Tomorrow, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will announce $8 billion in stimulus grants to develop 13 high-speed rail corridors from coast to coast. White House officials says the projects are expected to create or save tens of thousands of jobs. The grants were part of last year's stimulus project.

CHETRY: Well, the political stakes are high for President Obama. Tonight in his first "State of the Union" address. The speech is expected to be heavy on jobs and a renewed theme of yes, we can, harkening back to the campaign. As the president looks to regain support of many frustrated voters.

Joining us now with a preview, two presidential historians, Doris Kearns Goodwin in Massachusetts this morning and Douglas Brinkley in Austin, Texas. Thanks to both of you for being with us.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: You're very welcome.

CHETRY: Doris, let me start with you. The president's approval ratings right now, hovering around 50 percent. There's a lot of anger out there from Americans that we haven't seen more jobs and perhaps more help from main street. And sources say the president is going to try to focus his speech on the middle class tonight. What do you think he needs to say?

GOODWIN: I think the most important thing is he's got to make the American people feel that main street and job creation is at the center of his priority. When you see a poll that 60 percent think that he spent more time thinking about big banks than about the problems of the middle class, he has to shift back perception.

I think the complicated thing is it's going to have to be a very old square deal, saying I'm for business, if they start creating jobs, I'm going to give them investment, tax credits. I'm going to target the whole thing but I'm not for business. If like the big banks, they took our money, they didn't lend it out and they gave themselves big bonuses. So it has to be able to pivot in both direction, that yes, business can be good but if business isn't, boy, I'm going to get angry. So I think those combat combination.

He also has to figure out how to communicate in smaller bites. Somehow he gives great, long speeches but they have to be able to symbolize it down like Roosevelt did with lend/lease. You're going to lend your neighbor a hose, so that your house will not go on fire when theirs does. It's that kind of metaphor that I think he needs.

CHETRY: Interesting, and Doug, in a lot of the polling jobs and the economy ranks as the two biggest issues for Americans but terrorism and national security come in pretty close there. You say the president needs to focus on national security as well tonight. Explain why.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, there was a Zogby poll that came out this week that showed more Americans are feeling safer under the previous president, George W. Bush, than Barack Obama. That's not the kind of poll a president wants to read, and I think you have to pay attention to it, and they have been.

After Ft. Hood, after the Christmas day bomber, you see the White House trying to get a little more strident message about Homeland Security. The truth is, they have been doing a good job, as had the Bush administration after 9/11. But there's starting to be a weakness in President Obama's international posture and also his -- the ability to keep the Homeland safe. So I think he needs to use some strident rhetoric in that regard.

CHETRY: And Doris, really, what is -- from a historical perspective, what is the point of the state of the union address? What are the hopes to be accomplished when the president addresses Congress and the nation?

GOODWIN: Well, you know, the president still is the only person in the country who can speak with the unified voice for the people as a whole. Congress speaks with many voices, as we've seen so much in this last year. And it's such a great ritual. I love state of the unions. I mean, they come in, everybody sitting there, the cabinet is there, and the Congress is there, and the Supreme Court is there, and the country is mobilized.

So it is his chance to really speak directly to the American people, lay out his priorities and show that he is on their side. Presidents have to be on the side of the people as against the special interests and this is a moment to do this. This is an important moment for him.

CHETRY: And Doris, you brought this up, and Doug, I'd like your take on it as well. The new CNN poll just out that says six in 10 people asked believe that the president has paid more attention to the problems of the banks and other financial institutions than he has to the problems of the middle class. So what is the takeaway from that number? How does he turn it around so that the every day average American believes that this White House is trying to better their lives?

GOODWIN: Well, it's partly a matter of tone. But go ahead, Doug. You continue.

BRINKLEY: Well, if you cut to a year ago, I think Barack Obama has a case to say the country was worse off a year ago. Look at Wall Street. It looked like it was about to crumble. We were in the middle of a great recession heading into a depression. We're not there now.

I had to deal with the banks first, but now on my second year of office the focus is going to be on jobs. We're going to do first off a government freeze but there's also going to be a lot of subsidies for things like middle class families to deal with child care or to deal with retirement benefits or to deal with student loans and that I'm there -- he's got to make himself tonight seem more the middle class American president, not a president who saved Wall Street in their moment of dire need.

CHETRY: And quickly, Doris, finish your thought. I just want to, in this context, 70 percent -- nearly 70 percent was one of the highest approval ratings for the president, as we said, now he's around 50 percent. His average has been about 57 percent. Is it an easy way to gain support by having a very strong State of the Union address?

GOODWIN: Absolutely. Even in those polls that show that approval of his presidency in terms of what he's done with it has fallen. Feelings about him as a person still remain high, strong, decisive, honest and people trust him. So if he can transfer that trust in him as a person now to the fact that he's focused on their problems, he understands their frustration.

He's got to deal something with health care. He's got to say something about it, which took a whole year. But I think the rest of it has to be pivoted like a laser, on the economy, growth and jobs.

CHETRY: Doris Kearns Goodwin and Douglas Brinkley, presidential historians, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

GOODWIN: You're very welcome.

CHETRY: I know you two will be watching tonight, and CNN will, of course carry the president's "State of the Union" address live. Tonight's primetime coverage on the "State of the Union" begins at 8:00 Eastern with the best political team on television. We'll be right back after a short break. It's now 38 minutes past the hour.

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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. With over 15 million people out of work and losing hope, there is a lot of angst in middle class America these days. Youngstown, Ohio is one example. A rust belt success story for so many decades, the city is now fighting for its life. 73,000 people live there. The median income in 2008? About $24,000 a year. The value of a typical home? Just $48,000.

Our Carol Costello was taking a more in depth look this morning at the problems plaguing Youngstown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obama, Obama.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Then-candidate Obama was no stranger here. He made 14 campaign stops in Ohio. Two in Youngstown.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Youngstown, this is our moment. This is our time.

COSTELLO: Youngstown said, yes, we can. 70 percent voted for Obama. Now many feel we really can't. Mickey Wolfe lost his job in January of 2009. MICKEY WOLFE, 2008 OBAMA VOTER: To come in this area and make promises when you want to be elected is all great. It's really, really frustrating that, you know -- you know, that we're in this predicament.

COSTELLO: Youngstown, once a booming manufacturing town has been in an economic black hole for decades. According to the Brookings Institution, 33 percent live below the poverty level. And Youngstown has one of the highest foreclosure rates in Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Politics is always at play.

COSTELLO: Mayor Jay Williams ran as an independent candidate in 2005 and won.

(on camera): Are people angry here?

MAYOR JAY WILLIAMS, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO: There's a sense of frustration that Washington in general just isn't getting it.

COSTELLO (voice-over): He says while Youngstown has benefited from the president's stimulus plan, the city needs even more financial help. But its application for stimulus money set aside to ease urban blight was rejected by HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

And Youngstown isn't happy. The local newspaper summed it up this way, "HUD to the Mahoney Valley, drop dead." The Obama administration says that's unfair, noting Youngstown has already received $52 million in stimulus money. Money it said created or saved thousands of jobs. The auto industry bailout also preserved jobs at the city's General Motors plant.

JARED BERNSTEIN, V.P. BIDEN'S ECONOMIC ADVISOR: You could certainly find pockets throughout this country where we would very much like to have done more. But we believe we've done a lot to help.

COSTELLO: Over at Ball Busters, a local pool hall, the only kind of help they're looking for isn't finding jobs. When the president speaks on Wednesday night, they want more than help, they want a plan.

(on camera): So you want to hear, they want to hear from Barack Obama, a plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. Outline it.

COSTELLO (voice-over): And then tell the country how he's going to pay for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Doesn't that sound amazingly simple? They want a plan. They want the president to outline it and they want results. They want jobs here, John. But of course that's a tall order, it's a lot more complicated than that. I'm going to go back to Ball Busters tonight, sit down with the patrons there and watch the president's "State of the Union" and see how they react.

And I'm thinking he's got to give them way more than words. They want action and they want that feeling of hope they had when they voted for Barack Obama in this area.

ROBERTS: You got to wonder though, really, practically what can he give them?

COSTELLO: You know, I talked to the mayor about that. Because Youngstown has this problem of being mired in this idea that manufacturing jobs are going to come back, and they're just not. They have to kind of come up with a new economy. And the mayor is trying to do that, but he says he needs more financial help from Washington to do that, to create these new jobs, to come up with these incubators. So that people will get new kinds of work here that actually pay more than the minimum wage.

ROBERTS: We were talking about yesterday, Pittsburgh did that some years back when the steel industry moved out but it took an awful lot of money and an awful lot of time.

Carol Costello in Youngstown this morning. Carol, thanks.

CHETRY: And we are in the middle of a week long undertaking here at CNN, to find out where all of the stimulus money is going and also whether it's doing what it's meant to do, create jobs.

Our Don Lemon is live at the nerve center of the stimulus project, the CNN stimulus desk in Atlanta. Hey, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, how are you?

You know, I was just looking at some of the stuff that Carol was talking about, talking about creating jobs, and one way they want to create about 1,000 jobs or at least help out about 1,000 workers in Ohio is through green energy, renewable energy jobs.

I want to -- so this is a book. We're looking it all up in this book, trying to find the information. So we're going to add about $3.96 million to the stimulus thing that we're working on, so far already reviewed.

Let me walk over here and showed you -- show you. These of course are the things that what we're working on. The green ones are the ones that we have gotten, so let's see if we can fix this total so far. This is going to add $3.96 million to the number of under review projects here by CNN.

So let's move this back. Specifically we're going to stay in Ohio and talk about eight counties, eight counties that are in Ohio, some of which include Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, and those counties. What they're trying to do is get, what Carol said, some of these manufacturing workers, some of these auto workers back to work, and one way to do this, they're talking about creating a new economy, green energy jobs. Green energy jobs. So what they're doing is $3.96 million, they're focusing in on, it's training, certification, all that. And -- and this is all short- term, all done on the local level to try to get these people back to work. So they're going to get $3.96 million of that.

Real quickly, let me show you, this is downtown Cleveland, which is one of the -- the counties, in one of the counties that's going to get money from this project. And again, just to sum it up for you here, eight counties in Ohio, $3.96 million for green and renewable energy going there. It should help about 1,000 workers there for training opportunities and what have you, to help and also create some jobs.

So exactly how many jobs created? Not exactly sure. How many people are taking advantage of this? We don't know. But we're working on it. When the phone lines open up, when people get to work in Ohio, we're going to be calling and making -- trying to get some information, making calls and drilling down on exactly what's happening with that program -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Sounds good. Don Lemon for us. Thanks so much.

Also, tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, a bridge built to make residents safer. We're going to find out why folks in one small town are calling it a complete waste of their money.

The Stimulus Project all this week only on CNN and cnn.com/stimulus.

It's 47 minutes past the hour.

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ROBERTS: Good morning, Pittsburgh, where right now they've got some light snow flying around. It's 24 degrees. Later on today, it will get up above freezing, 35 degrees, and will remain cloudy.

So coming up on 50 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras in for Rob Marciano this morning who's out in Steamboat Springs in -- investigating the weather.

CHETRY: Right. "Meetings" (ph).

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Somebody's got to do it, right?

ROBERTS: He's -- he's investigating the weather.

We got a lot of cold air coming down from my old home.

JERAS: Yes, we do, from Canada. Woo-hoo!

Unfortunately, it's going to end up being a real problem for a whole lot of people because that cold air is going to meet up with some moisture in the nation's midsection, really, the Southern Plains, and this is going to be one ugly storm. In fact, it could be the worst ice storm that we've seen in Oklahoma since 2007, if you remember what that did. There were people in rural areas without power for weeks and weeks. That can cause a lot of damage.

This is what we're looking at right now, which doesn't look like a whole heck of a lot on the radar pictures, some light rain showers and some snow into the higher elevations across the four corners, but as it gets into the nation's midsection we're going to really see this thing pump up quite a bit.

So ice accumulations could reach a good half of an inch, probably even up to an inch in some isolated areas along the I-44 corridor here, and that is what brings down tree limbs, that's what brings down power lines and makes travel absolutely impossible.

Backside of this system, we're going to be seeing that heavy snow into the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. A few of you could see up to a foot of snowfall.

That cold air today up here across the upper Midwest, so that's going to be on the move, making its way on down towards the south and yet eventually making it towards the east. So temperatures are going to be a lot cooler throughout the week compared to what we saw early this week.

Airport delays, we've got 15-minute departure delays in Philadelphia right now, could reach up to 30 minutes to an hour later on today.

John and Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: What a mess.

All right, Jacqui. Thanks so much.

Fifty-one minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty-four minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

It's time for your "AM House Call" and we're going to Haiti, where in the aftermath of the earthquake it has become painfully clear just how desperate the country is for doctors. In fact, for every physician in the country there are more than 4,500 potential patients.

ROBERTS: And to make matters worse, many medical schools have been destroyed across the country.

Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta talked with two medical students who are facing tough choices and an uncertain future.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So you -- you would have been in class that day, but you -- you weren't. If -- if you'd been in class, I think everybody probably would have died.

RICARDO, HAITIAN MEDICAL SCHOOL STUDENT: Yes. Yes.

GUPTA (voice-over): But they very much lived, and now they have all the vitality of youth. Ricardo and Paul-Robert.

They're best friends. They have matching bags. Inseparable.

Now, they're on their way to being Haiti's future healers.

GUPTA (on camera): The way it works is you go to primary school, then you go to secondary school, and then the very best students of all go to medical school for seven years.

Paul-Robert was in his fifth year. He was this close to being the first person in his family to ever becoming a doctor when this all happened.

That's where you used to sit?

PAUL-ROBERT DERENONCOURT, HAITIAN MEDICAL SCHOOL STUDENT: Negative (ph).

GUPTA: Right over there?

DERENONCOURT: Over there. In the other side.

GUPTA: When you look at your -- your school now, what are you -- what are you going to do? What is your plan?

DERENONCOURT: When I see my -- my medical school collapsed, it's very bad thing for us.

GUPTA: What -- what type of doctor do you want to be?

DERENONCOURT: I want to be a radiologist.

GUPTA (voice-over): He would be one of fewer than 2,000 doctors in the entire country of 9 million people.

GUPTA (on camera): So that -- that's the only thing that's still standing is -- is the front wall over there.

DERENONCOURT: Yes. The only thing standing.

GUPTA (voice-over): Many would look at Paul-Robert and say he's lucky. His mother survived the earthquake, siblings as well. But now it is his very future that hangs in the balance.

GUPTA (on camera): So what will you do? What are you going to do next year? What are you going to do the year after that?

DERENONCOURT: First of all, I will -- I will spend some of my time to search about what can I do for other medical school in the country.

GUPTA: So you're saying many of the medical schools here in Haiti are -- are destroyed or broken?

DERENONCOURT: Yes.

GUPTA: So you may have to leave your country.

DERENONCOURT: Maybe. I don't know.

GUPTA (voice-over): That's pretty bad news, considering how poor medicine was to begin with here in Haiti.

GUPTA (on camera): And here's a number that sort of surprised me. Even under typical circumstances, Haiti only graduates 80 medical doctors a year. Every single year.

Think about that, in a country of 9 million people, giving Haiti one of the lowest physician to patient ratios anywhere in the world. And with this, obviously those numbers get a lot worse.

GUPTA (voice-over): But for the time being, there is a lot of compassion here. Doctors from all over the world come to help.

GUPTA (on camera): What happens when they leave?

DERENONCOURT: If they leave, I think it will be very difficult for us.

GUPTA (voice-over): But what we know is eventually Haiti's medical care, and really Haiti's future, will fall squarely on the shoulders of these kids, kids like Ricardo and Paul-Robert.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Now, some of these numbers may seem a little bit surprising, but keep in mind that we've talked about the fact that Haiti has a very high rate of poverty, about 80 percent of the people here living below the poverty line. Only 2 percent of people actually finish high school here, so -- so going on to medical school is a very big deal, and obviously a big setback to have so many of these medical schools destroyed.

So as people think about relief for medical infrastructure long- term, if the -- if the Haiti -- if the locals here are going to take over a lot of the medical care, they're going to need to invest in those medical schools as well, long term.

ROBERTS: All right. Problems, problems, problems abounding there in Port-au-Prince. Sanjay Gupta for is this morning. Doc, thanks so much.

Top stories coming your way in 90 seconds. Stay with us on the Most News in the Morning.

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