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American Morning
Levee on the Brink; Afghanistan Memoir Trashed; Going' Grizzly; Unfriendly Skies For Traveler; Obama Focuses On Education; Documentary "Waiting for Superman" Chronicles Failing Schools; Personal Trainers for Kids
Aired September 27, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Monday, September 27th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for joining us.
A lot to talk about this morning, let's get right to it.
Extreme weather -- a levee on the brink of total failure now in Wisconsin. Residents living nearby advised to leave before they have no way to get out. Rob Marciano was watching that and another potentially dangerous storm up and down the East Coast this morning.
CHETRY: And the Pentagon is going to great lengths to destroy an Army reservist memoir of an undercover operation in Afghanistan. They bought up all 9,500 copies printed so far, saying "Operation Dark Heart" threatens national security by revealing classified information. The author says it feels like retaliation. Our Barbara Starr breaks down the details for us in a moment.
ROBERTS: There has been an awful lot of talk about the mama grizzlies in politics. Sarah Palin made the moniker famous. So, what can she do for the pack of female political candidates who are following her lead? We've got an inside look this morning.
CHETRY: And the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation, go to CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: Up first this Monday morning, extreme weather, a levee in Wisconsin is beginning to collapse. It's on the brink of total failure now, under pressure after a foot of rain fell last week.
CHETRY: Emergency officials warned 150 residents in Portage, Wisconsin, to get out yesterday. Some who did not heed that warning are already cut off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, it's up to the floor board boards and the water's knee deep right now. And it's getting higher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll talk it over with my wife and I. Even though where we're standing here is plenty high, we wouldn't be able to get in and out for days on end, and we'd have to float in and out. And I'm not ready to get my boats out yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A lot of trouble there in Wisconsin.
Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center for us in Atlanta this morning.
With the remnants of a lot of rain in Wisconsin and a lot of rain up and down the East Coast today. It's going to be causing some travel problems.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That indeed. I want to give you some perspective as to where this exactly is happening in Portage, Wisconsin. What you're looking at here in Google Earth is the Wisconsin River as it makes its bend to the south. The area of concern is where this red line is. That is the levee which is over 100 years old and, you know, not very well built in all accounts.
And this is the area that has been flooding and there have been spots where the levee has failed, but there has not been a complete failure as of yet. A complete failure would certainly flood the area more and the people that you just heard from would not be happy about that.
So, these are the counties under flood watches and warnings as these rivers continue to be in flood stage. Most have crested. That's good news. But a lot of them, including the Wisconsin River, will be in flood stage for the next couple of days that will put stress on these weakened levees.
And then on the East Coast, we have flood watches that are in effect for rains that will reach similar numbers that we saw yesterday. Macon, Georgia, seeing over four inches of rainfall, the Carolinas up through the mid-Atlantic today will see heavy, heavy rain. Really, the next couple of days, as you mentioned. That pretty potent, very wet and at times windy storm system will batter the East Coast I think for the next 36 hours. So, everybody is getting a little piece of this.
Much more on that and what's going on in the tropics a little bit later on the program -- guys.
CHETRY: All right. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Well, the first of three rescue capsules arriving at the mine in Chile to reach 33 men who are trapped for nearly two months now. The capsules contain tanks of air, a microphone for communication and equipment to monitor the miners' heart rate and breathing as they are raised to the surface. Engineers in charge of the drilling now they think they could reach the men by early November.
CHETRY: Frightening moments for passengers on board a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to New York this weekend. The pilot forced to make an emergency landing at JFK Airport because the plane's landing gear was stuck. Earlier we, talked to two passengers who caught it on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Down! Stay down! Heads down! Stay down!
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Down! Stay down!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, you saw the sparks flying, the 3,000 gallons of fuel inside as the wing tip scraped the runway. But then you heard the entire plane erupt in cheers after they realize all 64 were OK. No one was hurt.
ROBERTS: Yes, you talked to the fellow who took that video this morning. Was he keeping his head down?
CHETRY: He claims he kept his head down, but he had his hand up because he was still using his cell phone to record the moment.
ROBERTS: I was wondering when we would get a shot from inside of a plane with an emergency like that. And there you go.
Well, now to the Pentagon's quick reaction to an Army officer's memoir on an undercover operation in Afghanistan. The Pentagon bought the first 9,500 copies of an Army reservist's book on an undercover in Afghanistan. It was destroyed, labeled a threat to national security.
CHETRY: Yes. The Defense Department claims that "Operation Dark Heart" was destroyed to protect state secrets. It says that classified information is revealed in that book.
Barbara Starr joins us live from the Pentagon now with more on this unusual move on the part of the Defense Department.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Who else (ph), to say the least. Government-sanctioned book destruction? That is not something we heard about. But the Pentagon indeed did move to destroy nearly 10,000 copies of this book you see here.
This is "Operation Dark Heart" by Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, a military intelligence officer. They destroyed 10,000 copies of the first run. This is now the second run.
And if you wanted to go out and buy this book, this is what you would see. Blacked out portions, page after page where the Pentagon made sure in its view classified information was no longer revealed in this book.
What happened here is the Pentagon says that they looked at the manuscript and they saw things in there that they believe very strongly to be classified. They had to then have the first version destroyed. The second version now is blacked out.
Some of the information very sensitive but some of it, by all accounts, fairly innocuous according to "The New York times," one of the secrets that was blacked out was the name Camp Perry. Camp Perry is the CIA training facility in Virginia, that's something you can look up on the Internet.
Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer talked a little about what he's been facing with this manuscript.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. COL. ANTHONY SHAFFER, AUTHOR, "OPERATION DARK HEART": There are some things that the Army felt they did not want in, and I automatically -- I just took them out. There was no argument. If they felt it was sensitive or something that couldn't be referenced properly, it's out.
And then that process was completed by January of this year. From there, after I received written permission, the written documents went to the publisher, and we moved forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: So, how did all of this happen? Well, Shaffer says that he did follow the rules which required him to get the manuscript reviewed by the military, he got a thumbs-up. By all accounts, once it reached the higher levels of military intelligence here at the Pentagon, they looked at it and said, no, there were still problems with the manuscript. That information had to come out and be blacked out in subsequent printings -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: You know, the Pentagon, as we said at the beginning of this, bought a whole lot of copies of the book and destroyed them. But maybe they didn't get them all. Are they concerned that maybe there's one of the originals out there in circulation, somebody may see it and publish it on the Internet?
STARR: Yes. I think there's plenty of concern about that. You know, we chatted about that before. In today's cyber age, there is no such thing as permanently destroying information or knowledge. And there is a very good possibility that some of that information is still circulating out there on the Internet, plenty of people still looking to buy one of those first run editions -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, when you -- when you look on the iPad you can buy books on this, of course, it's the second edition and explains why. But it is interesting that, you know, it actually went to print before the Pentagon caught onto it and then they ended up having to take the books back and destroy them.
STARR: Absolutely. And that is something that we've checked and we haven't found any recent cases at least of government- sanctioned book destruction.
CHETRY: Barbara Starr for us -- thanks.
Well, don't mess with the mama grizzlies. It's the rise of high-profile political moms, part of the Tea Party movement. Is at coherent set of ideas or is it just a marketing tool? We're going to talk about it -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twelve minutes past the hour right now.
In the few months since Sarah Palin launched her mama grizzlies campaign online, high profile victories by Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, by Nikki Haley in South Carolina, and Sharron Angle in Nevada in the primaries have led some to call this the year of the Republican woman.
But who are the mama grizzlies and how are they defining this election and their stance on issues? Take a quick look at the ad that started it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: It seems like it's kind of a mom awakening in the last year and a half, where women are rising up and saying, no, we've had enough already because moms kind of just know when something's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, Lisa Miller wrote this week's "Newsweek" cover story on mama grizzlies, hear them growl. And she joins us now to talk about it.
Thanks so much.
LISA MILLER, NEWSWEEK: I'm happy to be here. Thanks.
CHETRY: So, it's interesting when we saw the ad out there. I mean, it looks, well-produced political ad. You almost think she was running for something but, really, she's sort of been the king maker, not the king herself.
MILLER: That's right. Or the queen -- or the grizzly maker.
CHETRY: The queen maker. Explain what she's trying to get across with this mama grizzly phenomenon and who are these people?
MILLER: She's anointing female candidates, female Republican candidates, who sort of stand for what she stands for, and this kind of anti-establishment, small government, no taxes approach to, you know, saying everything's wrong in Washington.
CHETRY: What is the imagery, though, that you're conjuring up when you say grizzly?
MILLER: Right. It's maternal image. It's a primal maternal image. It's saying, like, we're women, we're moms, we know when there's something wrong with America and we're going to fight back because we're going to do everything we can to protect our cubs. You know, it's this -- it's this anti-establishment fury rooted in the maternal instinct, you know, in the -- in the women's instinct.
CHETRY: It's interesting because when you take a look at some of the candidates she is referring to, and we can talk about some of them, they aren't necessarily all on the same page with each other --
MILLER: No. That's right.
CHETRY: -- when it comes to some of these issues. I mean, is this, sort of, a coherent set of ideas or is it more of a marketing tool?
MILLER: Right. Well, I mean, I would say -- and we say at the end of the story, that it is really more of a marketing tool. It's a very compelling image, right? Everybody who is a parent has that feeling of wanting to protect their kids. And if we make it America's kids or our kids, you know, our future, it's a very powerful image.
On the other hand, you know, Christine O'Donnell, for example, isn't a mom. So, she talks about our grandchildren in speeches but she's not actually a mama grizzly. And then on things like education, the grizzlies are really all over the place.
You know, Sarah Palin is quite progressive on education. She has always talked about paying teachers more. In Alaska, she ramped up the budget for the Department of Education over and over again before she left the position of governor of Alaska. She promised a big infusion of money to the schools. Whereas, you know, Angle and Bachman are known for sort of hating the teachers union, fighting back against education lobbyist, all of them, many of them have this anti- Department of Education position. You know, parents know what's good for kids and administrators and bureaucrats should get out.
CHETRY: Right, just because you're against the Department of Education doesn't mean you're not for kids getting a better education.
MILLER: I guess that's true. On the other hand you know a lot of them voted for -- against things like HEAD start, programs for poor kids, PELL Grants which are, you know, to help poor kids get college educations.
CHETRY: Right and you know this is the interesting part. I mean I guess if you strip away the core message of the tea party candidates which Sarah Palin has really helped endorse they want less government.
MILLER: Right. CHETRY: They want less spending. That unfortunately at times butts up against things many say would be good for kids. We have Bachman, Michelle Bachman in the Congress and Mickey Haley who are against the state children's health insurance program that provides health care to poor children.
MILLER: Right. All of the candidates that we -- whose records we looked at are against the Obama health plan in general, and yes, the CHIP Program in specific. There are rising numbers of poor children in this country, a quarter of America's children are poor. It seems like a funny way to say that you're for kids and be against all of these programs.
CHETRY: Yes the other issue you talked about is the voting against was it Angle who voted no on a domestic violence bill.
MILLER: Yes.
CHETRY: In the Nevada legislature.
MILLER: And Bachman voted against federal -- parental leave policy for federal employees, so when you have a new baby, time off. That seems like a good thing for kids.
CHETRY: Is there a democratic equivalent to the mama grizzly phenomenon on the other side?
MILLER: Well I mean I think you know, you could call Hillary Clinton a mama grizzly, right. She is a powerful woman, she's a mom. I don't think she would call herself a mama grizzly. She doesn't fit into this demographic.
CHETRY: You wrote an interesting line at the end of the article that said in the wild real mama grizzlies were known to be aggressive, irrational, and mean. The issues facing the country are complex and bears are not. So what is the upshot of this?
MILLER: Well I think you know, it's a great marketing tool as we said at the outset. Calling on women's primal maternal instincts is a good thing. But let's think about it. I mean this is a very divided country and we have big problems to solve. Do we want bears to solve our problems?
CHETRY: Well, it's some people looking for a job will say hey, I'll take anything at this point.
MILLER: That's right.
CHETRY: But you bring up a lot of good points in the article. I'm glad you joined us. Lisa Miller, senior editor at "Newsweek." Great to talk to you.
MILLER: Very happy to be here.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Never run face-to-face with a grizzly; it can be anything it wants to be.
Airline fees increasing, some by more than 50 percent since a year ago. Our Christine Romans back from maternity leave and she joins us to break it down next. And "Breaking News," two airlines joining forces, Southwest is buying Air Tran. How this will affect your air travel coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty one minutes after the hour. Time for "Minding Your Business" and this morning we're all about the baby business.
CHETRY: We sure are.
ROBERTS: Our own Christine Romans is back.
CHETRY: Welcome back.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: "Better all together." That's our song.
CHETRY: Christine Romans is here and we want to show you a picture of her new addition to her family. This is Edward.
ROMANS: This is my alpha and my omega, my oldest and my youngest. The middle guy he is his own soldier. He doesn't like to sit in the pictures.
CHETRY: Yes see the poor middle child.
ROBERTS: Chubby cheeks.
ROMANS: He is a little porker. He's a little healthy happy little porker.
CHETRY: He was born July 11. That's when you left. And now you are back, you look fantastic.
ROMANS: Did I miss anything? Did I miss anything?
CHETRY: Not much.
ROBERTS: Not much, no.
CHETRY: We're out of the recession.
ROBERTS: Yes. So they say. Yes, we were out of it last year.
ROMANS: It feels like before. So did I miss like the airline stopped charging fees while I was gone?
ROBERTS: Yes, they are actually paying you to get your bag -- it's a different world.
ROMANS: I know. No. I looked at the "USA Today" announcement of airline fees and believe it or not there are some airlines charging 50 percent more fees, believe it or not.
ROBERTS: Yes, they are making a ton of money.
ROMANS: They are making a ton of money some $2.1 billion in the second quarter. Some of the biggest fees that you have. America has the highest change ticket fee, $300, $300 to change a coach ticket. US Airways the highest fee to charge you to talk to actually talk to a human being, $31 to make a phone reservation. United the biggest to cut the line, you know, to go ahead, that's $39. And United holds the record for the preferred feet for 5 inches you can pay $159, it is about $39 an inch. Just - that's a --
CHETRY: Is that worth a chunk?
ROBERTS: I'll just sit up higher.
ROMANS: Another airline, Southwest Airlines wants to buy Air Tran. If you are a frequent flyer on either of those carriers, there is a deal there. The Southwest CEO says this is going to take Southwest to expand into airports like Atlanta, D.C., Baltimore, Boston, New York City, if you live in any of those metropolitan areas, you could be seeing changes. It's not a done deal. Both boards of these companies have to approve it. The government has to weigh in as well, but that's the deal we're talking about this morning. And Air Tran stock, if you are an Air Tran shareholder, Air Tran stock is up sharply this morning.
ROBERTS: So here is a question I have. I'm constantly traveling between New York and Atlanta. Air Tran's fares pretty much track Delta fares, and now American has gotten into the business as well. Does this mean the fares will change? Because Southwest typically is a lot less.
ROMANS: Usually the acquiring company is the company that sets the standard and is able to impose what it wants. If it looks like Southwest wants these different airports you could see Southwest baggage fee policy, Southwest does not charge baggage fee, by the way. And neither does Jetblue because these Southwest policies take over. But there will be a conference call later. We're going to specifically ask do Air Tran customers, do they get the Southwest fees and fares, vice versa, or how does that work.
CHETRY: None of this is your concern because you have a 4-year- old, a 2-year-old and a 2-month-old. You never fly again -
ROMANS: They take one look at me -
CHETRY: Unless you charter a plane.
ROMANS: The minivan, please, take the minivan, take the minivan please.
ROBERTS: You'll be driving to Florida for the next vacation.
ROMANS: There you go, make a go of it.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: I know someone who works for Air Tran as well as a flight attendant. So I'd be interested to know.
ROMANS: That's right, they call it synergy, what kind of synergies there are, what kind of overlap or whether they are just getting - whether it's an add-on deal. All of that will come out later today on the conference call.
CHETRY: Well we can't let you go without the Romans Numeral. What's the number driving story of the day.
ROMANS: Twenty three million dollar every single stinking day.
CHETRY: This is how much airlines lose?
ROMANS: This is how much they get out of our pockets for fees.
CHETRY: Oh good at least they aren't losing money anymore.
ROBERTS: I think they still are losing money.
ROMANS: They are losing money and taking $23 million every stinking day out of our pocket. No, this is the way it's going to be. We get a lot of mail, you guys all despise these fees, this model I predict is here to say.
ROBERTS: Yes it's the way it is just the worst isn't it.
ROMANS: It's just the way it is John, it is just the way it is.
ROBERTS: Welcome back.
ROMANS: Cha-ching.
ROBERTS: We'll see you bright and early tomorrow.
ROMANS: You sure will.
CHETRY: All right, thanks, Christine Romans. Well the recession may be over but where are the jobs? Do you think President Obama's policies have made the economy better? Mark Preston has political news hot of the ticker, coming up next.
ROBERTS: And Oscar winning filmmaker Davis Gogenhyms (ph) new documentary "Waiting For Super Man" it follows five children and their family as they try to get a quality education. Lessons learned, America's educational system is in desperate need of rescue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 28 minutes past the hour. Time for a check of our "Top Stories." The river is rising in Wisconsin. A levee in real danger of total failure this morning. Basements and living rooms filling with water after a foot of rain came down last week. One hundred fifty residents in portage, Wisconsin were told to leave yesterday. Those who did not heed that warning are already cut off.
ROBERTS: The feds are reportedly seeking new regulations for internet wire taps. "The New York Times" reporting today law enforcement and national security officials claim their ability to wire tap suspects is, quote, "going dark as people communicate more online than by telephone." They want congress to require all services that enable communications including social networking sites to be technically capable of complying if served with a wire tap order.
CHETRY: The Obama -- President Obama starting the week focusing on education. Earlier he spoke to NBCs Matt Lauer about whether America can spend its way out of the crisis that has many schools across the country are now facing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Money plays a factor and obviously there's some schools where money plays a big factor. They don't have up to date text books, they don't have computers in the classroom. So those who say money makes no difference are wrong.
On the other hand, money without reform will not fix the problem. And what we've got to do is combine a very vigorous reform agenda that increases standards, helps make sure that we've got the best possible teachers inside the classroom, make sure that we're clearing away some of the bureaucrat underbrush preventing kids from learning, we've got to combine that with deploying resources.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Later this afternoon, President Obama will holding a conference call with college students to discuss issues facing young Americans.
ROBERTS: And President Obama also topping this CNN political ticker, he's hitting the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections. And he's not alone. Candidates have been tapping heavy hitters in this home stretch.
CHETRY: CNN, our senior political editor, Mark Preston live at the CNN politics desk this morning. Hey, Mark.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Kiran, hey, John. You know, look, you know we're heading into a very contentious midterm election year when all of the politicians are leaving Washington, out on the campaign trail.
President Obama headlines the first of four major rallies on Tuesday in Madison, Wisconsin. These are major campaign stops designed to try to rally the troops, try to get supporters who endorsed him in 2008 to come out and support congressional Democrats.
But again, he's not the only one out there. This morning Joe Biden, the vice president, is in New Hampshire doing a campaign event for Carol Shea Porter. Haley Barbour, the head of the Republican Governors Association is also in New Hampshire. He's doing a campaign event for the governor's nominee up there, the Republican nominee, John Stevens.
Checking through the rest of the week -- Mitt Romney on the campaign trail in Florida for Rick Scott who you spoke to earlier. Mike Pence is in Iowa, speaking before a Republican conservative group. Tim Pawlenty is in New Hampshire, another Republican doing work for John Stevens.
Even Vice President Al Gore is on the campaign trail. We'll see him in Florida campaigning on behalf of Kendrick Meeks. Putting all of those together, let's pull the Republicans out of that one -- at least four Republican candidates for president in 2012, or at least folks looking at it on the campaign trail in the next week.
Let's take a look at why Republicans might have a shot at taking back the House of Representatives and perhaps even the Senate. It really comes down to the economy. In this new CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll, we asked the question, is the economy still in a recession? An astounding 74 percent said yes, while 25 percent said no.
You know, this goes counter to what the National Bureau of Economic Research said earlier this month when they said the recession ended in June of 2009. Well, as President Obama acknowledged last week, a lot of people are hurting, they still think the recession is around.
But what's damaging for President Obama, have his policies made the economy better? Only 36 percent of Americans said they made them better, 61 percent say they haven't. So very damming.
And then let's close it in Florida. Charlie Crist, the Republican turned independent, the very popular governor, is losing ground in a new Mason Dixon show. Charlie Crist is bleeding voters to Kendrick Meek, the Democratic nominee, as well as Marco Rubio. He did get a little boost when former Democratic Rep Robert Wexler endorsed him this weekend, but the Mason Dixon analysis says that if Rubio, the Republican, can pick up a few more point this is race will be wrapped up.
We're still a little more than a month out. A lot can happen, but Florida is in the spotlight.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: So what's causing the bleeding? Any idea?
PRESTON: You know, a lot of folks said after the primaries in August that Kendrick Meek would pull away some of the Democratic voters and Marco Rubio would pull independents his way, and that's exactly what we're seeing.
CHETRY: As I understand Charlie Crist was doing well in the wake of the oil spill for keeping it out there and trying to show leadership in a crisis. PRESTON: He was, Kiran. He was acting very gubernatorial at that point. He was acting like a leader. But now it's all about campaigning. And Republicans are very upset that Charlie Crist left his party. So he's bleeding them. And Democrats, true-blue Democrats are not going to support somebody who was a Republican at one time.
CHETRY: All right, Mark Preston, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks.
By the way, you can check out the latest political news going to CNNpolitics.com.
ROBERTS: Oscar winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim has a documentary out titled "Waiting for Superman." It follows five children and their families as they try to get a quality education in the United States. Lessons learned -- America's education system is in desperate need of a rescue. Davis joins us coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 37 minutes after the hour. The director of the Oscar winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" is out with a new film titled "Waiting for Superman." It's an unflattering look at the state of America's schools. For many getting an education is like winning the lottery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want my kids to have better than what I had. I had to stay back one grade that was in the second grade because my father had passed. It's bittersweet to me if I get in. They give me a better chance in life. If I don't I just -- I just be with my friends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see the cages up here. It's a random selection. You all have your numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get started.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: It's very powerful stuff t. The director of "Waiting for Superman" Davis Guggenheim joins us now. Anthony is trying to get into the seed charter school in Washington, D.C. It's one of the only boarding schools in the country, but funded with public money.
He doesn't get in the lottery. You see his hopes for a good education kind of dashed in front of him. It's really heartbreaking to watch this.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM, DIRECTOR, "WAITING FOR SUPERMAN": It's heartbreaking because when you meet these kids, and I follow five kids from different economic -- there is a white middle class girl named Emily in northern California, and she cares as much, too. But there are families who want a great school. And they shouldn't have to play bingo with their future.
ROBERTS: We'll talk about Emily in a second because she really represents a side of education that people might not know too much about. First of all, a broad brush stroke. You spent a couple of years researching this film, putting it all together. What's the general state of education in America? There's some very good school districts. Others are terrible.
GUGGENHEIM: There are some wonderful schools, and teachers and great -- teachers in failing schools doing a great job, great teachers everywhere. But overall we're failing millions of kids.
And it's not just a problem over there. It's not just a problem in the poor neighborhoods which is I think a lot of people feel. It's now in middle class schools. And the failure is hidden throughout.
But we have more than a 1,200,000 kids dropping out. That's people walking the streets without a high school diploma. Now you need a college diploma to be a productive citizen at all. So it's not just hurting kids, it's hurting our economy, it's hurting our neighborhoods.
This is a wake-up call. People are going to see the movie to say it's time to make change.
ROBERTS: Even some good schools are failing kids. You tracked Emily. She's one of the five. She lives in Silicon Valley, where the average home price is about $1 million. She's going to a very good school that has a golf team. Yet the school does something called "tracking." And she believes that she's not going to be able to get into college because of this tracking.
GUGGENHEIM: So, a lot of families don't know that there's tracking in these schools. It happens in middle school where they put you on a track. If you're on the upper track you're fine, because the school is built to put those 10 or 15 percent of kids to college.
And so even these big, quote-unquote, "successful" suburban schools, those schools are not teaching every kid. And it's a real problem because we need college graduates for a great economy.
ROBERTS: So the solution for these kids is to try to get into charter schools because they believe that they are doing better at charter schools at educating than in public schools.
I came out of the film, and I thought the alternate title could have been "In Praise of Charter Schools."
GUGGENHEIM: No. I wanted the lottery to be a metaphor. Why is it that you have to win something to find a great school? There are charters that are -- there are many charters that are failing.
ROBERTS: In fact, we've got figures here. These come from Stanford University. Let's put them up -- 17 percent of charter schools found to be better, 37 percent were significantly worse, 46 percent the same.
So while there are some great charter schools and the ones you highlight in the documentary are fabulous, doing an amazing job of teaching kids that were thought by the system to be un-teachable, it's not a panacea.
GUGGENHEIM: No. I use that exact study in the movie. I say one in five charters are doing really, really well. And the really bad charters can and should be shut down.
But the high performing ones, the ones that are in the movie, they are -- I use the example of breaking the sound barrier. They are going into neighborhoods, even the toughest where parents are busy and worse, and they are bringing 90 percent of the kids and bringing them to college.
So they have the ingredients, they're like the incubators for new ideas. Those ingredients we need to put in every school.
ROBERTS: Because it's thought that it's as much parenting and the social situation that students come from that determines whether or not they'll be able to learn as a student. But you look at Anthony. His father was a crack addict who died. He's growing up with his grandparents who do want the best for him. but he's trying to be a really good student.
GUGGENHEIM: And that's what I found. I go in these homes. You don't know when you go to east L.A. or Anthony's neighborhood what you find. You find parents that are just like me. They want a great education for their kids and the kids have huge dreams and we are failing them.
ROBERTS: So what's the broader solution here? Because as you said, there are some charter schools that are good, there are some charter schools that are bad and should be closed down. You can't change the public education system overnight in this country. And you would like to get us back to as you state in the begin requesting of the film how great the public school system used to be in America. So what's the overall solution?
GUGGENHEIM: The first thing is go see the movie. People come together, they learn about why we are where we are, it's a wake-up call.
And then you see the movie, you go to our website WaitingforSupermancom. It gives you steps that you can take. You can work on a local level helping a kid, mentoring, or you can be involved in fixing the system.
But sticking your head in the sand like I used to do -- I sent my kids to private school, I would just drive by these schools.
ROBERTS: How do you reconcile those two things? Here you do a documentary about the state of public schools in America and you're sending your kids to private school. GUGGENHEIM: You know, because the schools have been a problem for so long I think people have been taking care of themselves. Parents like me stick their head in the sand.
ROBERTS: Was your head in the sand?
GUGGENHEIM: I was part of the problem. My head was deep in the sand. In May my wife and I walked into our local school, met our principal, and said how can we help? How can we become good neighbors? And maybe in a couple years my youngest kid will go to that school.
But the idea is we all have to fight for a great school in every neighborhood for every kid. And if you go to our Web site waitingforsuperman.com you see the movie you become part of the solution.
ROBERTS: We should say the film is not without controversy. Teachers unions are coming down pretty hard as are some other folks.
GUGGENHEIM: The controversy is fine. I don't mind taking some hits. But I want -- I think people should listen for who is fighting for the status quo, because keeping the schools the way they are, no one is saying they are working. If there is an argument about it, let's make it toward making better schools as opposed to keeping things the way they have been.
ROBERTS: Well, it's a very thought provoking documentary as you have become known for. So congratulations on getting it out there and we'll continue to follow it.
GUGGENHEIM: It's wonderful being on your show.
ROBERTS: Davis Guggenheim, great to talk to you this morning.
GUGGENHEIM: Thanks a lot.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, still ahead, we're going to be talking about extreme weather. There is flooding in the Midwest, some concerns about a total levee failure in Wisconsin, plus some storms moving throughout the eastern part of the country. Our Rob Marciano joins us with all of the latest weather headlines in just a moment. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
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ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Flooding in Portage, Wisconsin -- this is the Wisconsin River -- at record levels, more -- more so than 1993 but pretty localized south of town. This is a neighborhood where -- about 100 homes affected. Evacuation is in order. And those that didn't evacuate are kind of stranded.
And the problem with this levee is that parts of it have already failed and the pressure continues as the flood stage is not expected to, well, the flooding is not expected to be relieved until the next couple of days.
Here's where your flooding is, in those counties including parts of Minnesota. Here is where the crest is, it's over 20 feet yesterday, slow recession, receding of the -- of the river to below flood stage. But that's not going to happen until probably Wednesday.
So they got two days where the pressure is going to be on those levees, they are very old levees to hold.
Meanwhile, we've got a lot of rainfall from the Florida panhandle up through the Carolinas. Some of this is going to be heavy. And we have flood watches that are in effect here, and in some cases flood warnings, two to four inches of additional rainfall on top of what have already fallen as this pretty moist system slowly makes its way up the East Coast.
Macon yesterday saw four and a quarter inches of rain. Troy, Alabama saw four inches of rain; Fayetteville, North Carolina saw three inches. So you get the idea and there's more rain coming. As a matter of fact, the week itself looks to be relatively wet here, and not only for parts of the Carolinas but up through the northeast also as storms kind of ride the jet stream which is going to be stuck right through here.
It's pretty hot across parts of the West Coast today and yesterday. Check out some of these record highs. In Indio, California -- a pretty good music festival happens there in spring -- 113 there; Palm Springs real close by with 111. And it's going to be hot again today across parts of Los Angeles, because of that fire danger is going to be pretty high as well. So be aware of that.
All right, tropical moisture, this is what's leftover of Matthew. And then we've got another area of disturbed weather here that may develop into something and drift up towards Florida. So we're watching these two areas here over the next few days for a tropical development.
You are up to date weather wise. And AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
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CHETRY: Isn't it though. Isn't it always?
ROBERTS: Right. Yes a little manic outside. We've got a lot of rain coming down in New York. So, if you're -- if you're traveling anywhere, you better check with your airline.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot going on this morning including the Midwestern part of the country as well, Wisconsin taking a big hit.
Meantime it's 52 minutes past the hour. And we're taking all these stories about your health in our "AM House Call" today. More parents are hiring personal trainers to get their overweight or obese kids moving. Some are hitting the gym as early as three years old to fight off childhood obesity. Parents are paying as much as $75 an hour for these sessions. Fitness experts say many of the exercises are modified for children to adjust to their developing bodies or to make them more fun.
ROBERTS: Wait a minute people are hiring personal trainers for young kids to get exercise?
CHETRY: Feed them less, take them to the park.
ROBERTS: Did you ever need a personal trainer?
CHETRY: No. I didn't --
ROBERTS: No, maybe mom and dad, you know, hey, get out there in the park and enjoy yourself. Hang around a little bit.
CHETRY: And your mom and daddy is your personal chef. I mean, you know, kids are eating --
ROBERTS: Wow. What is the world coming to if young kids need a personal trainer to get exercise?
CHETRY: I thought it was weird when they did the doggies on the treadmill. But now --
ROBERTS: Well, that's a whole other thing. I'll never understand. It's 53 and a half minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. When you think of missionaries you probably think of people who are working in third world countries.
CHETRY: That's right but in this troubled economy the need for domestic missionaries is growing.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien introduces us to one man whose mission is to rally black Americans to serve their own communities.
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LEROY BARBER, PRESIDENT, MISSION YEAR: Well, I'm the Jackie Robinson of missions, you know.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leroy Barber is a man with a calling and he's the president of Mission Year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do not see through our eyes or hear through our ears.
O'BRIEN: It's a year-long ministry and a volunteer program for Christian young adults in the United States.
BARBER: There is a goal for people coming to know Jesus. There is probably another strong goal of things are not right in the world and I want to be part of making them right.
O'BRIEN (on camera): How many African-Americans are involved in mission year's work?
BARBER: Generally about 5 percent a year or less sometimes.
O'BRIEN: What does it matter?
BARBER: I don't think it's good for a kid growing up in an urban neighborhood to only see white faces coming to serve.
HAROLD BOYD, MISSION YEAR: This is where I'm staying right now.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Twenty-two-year-old Harold Boyd left his Chicago home to spend the year in Atlanta. He lives on $12,000 that he has to raise himself.
BOYD: I do believe that with every relationship that I build that I'll be showing people that I'm in the same struggle as you are.
I don't have all of the answers.
O'BRIEN: He is the only minority on the team. It's not surprising when you consider the vast majority of missionaries are white.
JIM SUTHERLAND, RECONCILIATION MINISTRIES WORK INC.: In terms of the mission area percentage of African-Americans it's less, far less than 1 percent.
O'BRIEN: Jim Sutherland studies missionary work and the black church.
SUTHERLAND: Many black churches are -- do a fairly good job of taking care of their own local communities but the vocation of missionary in the African-American church is essentially off the radar. It's basically not there.
O'BRIEN (on camera): So why are there so few African-Americans who are involved in missionary work?
BARBER: I think the way missions is traditionally done is you raise support to do it and --
O'BRIEN: Money.
BARBER: Money. How you work out taking a year off which means not working, not earning an income.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): For many African-Americans it's difficult to make this enormous financial sacrifice especially during a recession.
For Harold Boyd it's worth the sacrifice.
BOYD: What really inspired me was the work of missions of being able to see what's out there and see what people need -- they have (INAUDIBLE) the guys were homeless -- you know, here, here, have it. But I'm called to serve here and I'm going to serve.
O'BRIEN: Reporting for "In America", Soledad O'Brien, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And you can see Soledad's "BLACK IN AMERICA SPECIAL, ALMIGHTY DEBT", it's on Thursday, October 21st, 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us this Monday morning. We'll see you back here again tomorrow bright and early. So be there with bells on.
The news continues on CNN with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM". Good morning Kyra.
