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American Morning
U.S. Service Member Held in Iraq; Is Rahm Running?; Military Kids' Health Care in Limbo; Believing Versus Knowing; Country Comes Home; Taking on Education Reform; Democrat Touts Ties to Bush; Biden to Dems; "Stop Whining"
Aired September 28, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning. Thanks for being with us. It is Tuesday, September 28th. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us.
A lot to talk about this morning, let's get right to it.
A U.S. service member is being held in Iraq today. He is suspected in the shooting deaths of two American soldiers. Military officials are calling it a non-combat incident. Details are still emerging on this story. We're live at the Pentagon for you just ahead.
CHETRY: President Obama's chief of staff may have one foot out the door. Rahm Emanuel is expected to announce Friday he's stepping down so that he can run for his dream job, mayor of Chicago.
We have our Suzanne Malveaux traveling with the president this morning. She's going to join us live with the latest on this likely departure of his right-hand man.
ROBERTS: And here's today's can't miss story -- seven former members of the U.S. Air Force claiming aliens in UFOs have visited earth to deliver a warning. And they want the government to come clean. Could it be that we have been visited by E.T.?
CHETRY: Hope so.
Well, meantime, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation. Go to CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning with a developing story out of Iraq. An American service member is now in custody, suspected of fatally shooting two U.S. soldiers and wounding a third.
CHETRY: Military officials say that they died in a, quote, "noncombat incident" in Fallujah.
Barbara Starr is following developments for us. She's live at the Pentagon.
This is a -- at least on its face -- a very, very tragic story. What are your sources telling you about what may have happened?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Kiran, this is just the most terrible news for two military families, of course. The military announcing that it does have a soldier in custody regarding this case. The man in custody is identified by the military as Specialist Neftaly Platero, in custody regarding the shooting deaths and injury of fellow soldiers in Iraq.
The two men have died in this incident -- let's identify them for everyone. That is Specialist John Carrillo, 20 years old, of Stockton, California, and Private First Class Gebrah Noonan, 26, of Watertown, Connecticut, according to U.S. military announcement.
Now, Carrillo and Noonan died on Friday from what the military initially announced, indeed, as a non-combat incident. Both men, part of the 3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Georgia. But Specialist Carrillo's mother, one of the dead young men, told a local news affiliate that when she was informed about her son's death, she was not told that it was suspected that another soldier had shot him and that she only learned that from local news media and an Internet search.
No answer from the Pentagon at this hour about why the families were not told right of the top that another soldier was suspected in the death of their loved ones -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Barbara, meantime in Afghanistan, our Drew Griffin had a piece last night about soldiers accused of killing civilians and using drugs, as well. In light of this story in Iraq, can you sort of illuminate for us the stresses that soldiers are facing in the battle zones?
STARR: This has happened -- you're absolutely right. That question always comes up. Is it battlefield stress that contributes to this?
But let's be very clear, tens of thousands of U.S. troops have served very honorably over the years in both Iraq and Afghanistan under terrible combat stress. Many of them coming home, getting counseling, trying to piece their lives back together. But they serve very honorably.
These are cases -- these are allegations we are talking about of felony criminal behavior, combat stress, no excuse for any of that. These people will all be dealt with by the military justice system. They will be tried, and they are innocent until proven guilty -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: Certainly, the last thing you expect, though. You know, you know that there is, of course, there's dangers when you go overseas. You don't expect it's going to be, you know, because of one of your own.
STARR: Of course.
CHETRY: Barbara, thanks so much. ROBERTS: The CIA is stepping up drone missile strikes in northwestern Pakistan, along the border with Afghanistan. Officials tell CNN the increase in drone attacks is based on precise elements of disrupting terrorist plots. Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan has reportedly been targeted by unmanned drones 65 times. And there have been more attacks this month than at any other time.
The CIA's campaign of drone strikes has angered Pakistanis because of the civilian death toll associated with them.
CHETRY: Well, it looks like he is indeed running. White House sources are telling CNN it's, quote, "all but certain" that President Obama's tough-talking chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, will announce Friday that he is leaving the White House.
ROBERTS: Emanuel always wanted to run for mayor of Chicago, and the job is now open after several decades. The president does have one request of his long-time confidant, and that is: hurry and up and decide.
Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president. She's in Albuquerque, New Mexico, up early this morning, where the president is going to have another backyard conversation about jobs.
So, what are you hearing about Rahmbo's potential departure from the White House?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the ever colorful Rahmbo. Yes, Rahm Emanuel.
It looks like he might actually get his wish here. It looks like -- multiple sources are telling CNN that it's very likely that he's going to go ahead and step his hat into the ring there. He's been talking -- he's been consulting with his family. He got a very public nudge, a little nudge from the president yesterday, saying, look, you've got to decide rather quickly. And he could actually make that announcement as early as this Friday.
Why? The timing of this very important. He's got a lot of work to do. He has over 12,000 petitions that have to be signed, these signatures, before November 22nd -- that before the February 22nd primary for the race. So, he's going to have to get busy. He's going to have to get on this.
We do expect to hear an announcement within days. Very likely, the possibility, the deputy chief of staff, Pete Rouse, very well- respected at the White House would step in as the interim chief of staff until the president decides who is actually going to fill his shoes.
But, John and Kiran, as you know, very difficult to fill Rahm Emanuel's shoes and his character, as well.
CHETRY: So, he's certainly a colorful member of the administration -- as is, of course, the vice president, Joe Biden. He was in New Hampshire yesterday -- and here's one of the quotes that stuck out to some. He told Democrats there: "Remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives."
Is that the message the White House wants him sending right now? Stop the whining?
MALVEAUX: Kiran -- you know, Kiran, absolutely. I mean, it might sound a little harsh to particularly some in the base there, because some people have said, "Look, you haven't done everything that we want you to do.
But the vice president, the president, as well, they've been saying, "Look, there are clear choices here. Let's not give up on this. Let's get involved in this midterm election."
Vice President Joe Biden is saying yesterday he doesn't believe the Democrats are going to lose the House and Senate, but they've got a lot of work to do. Only five weeks left to go. What they're trying to do is essentially get the base out there and get those surge voters -- that's about 15 million people who came out the last go round to vote for President Obama back in 2008. They need those young voters, they need minority voters, they need those folks sitting on their hands right now.
And so, that's why you're hearing some of that language, if you will, kind of get off your duff and do something. We're going to hear some more of that language, too.
Today, President Obama's going to be holding this backyard discussion here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But later, we expect about 15,000 people to gather at the University of Wisconsin, Madison campus. That is where you're going to see that campaign rally trying to get the magic of the campaign, the energy of the campaign back so they can get some of those voters out for the midterm elections -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Well, nobody accused Joe Biden of not speaking his mind ever.
Suzanne Malveaux in Albuquerque --
MALVEAUX: He and Rahm Emanuel.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks.
ROBERTS: We'll see you again soon.
Also new this morning, extreme weather. The water is still rising in Wisconsin. The government has declared a state of emergency in Columbia County. After heavy rains pushed the river near Portage to an all time high, the river is expected to peak again this morning. Officials say at least 100 homes are in danger and they're not sure how far south the flood waters could go if a levee that has been crumbling all weekend totally fails.
Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center in Atlanta this morning, watching it all for us.
And heck of a rainstorm we had up and down the East Coast yesterday, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's where a lot of the rain has pushed, as far as what's going on in Wisconsin.
You mentioned it's expected to peak again, kind of a double crest. We were hoping it would continue to recede yesterday, but it is holding steady and expected to go below flood stage not until maybe as late as Thursday afternoon. So, issues for them and continued pressure on that crumbling levee as you mentioned.
Now, all the rainfall is over to the East Coast and the pattern is going to pretty much keep it there. So, a wet start to your day in Washington, D.C. You got flash flood watches out in and around the D.C. area and showers and thunderstorms be developing across parts of Florida as well. It's got a bit of a tropical connection, guys.
So, we'll discuss all those possibilities and much, much more, plus a record-breaking heat -- 113 yesterday in Los Angeles, all time record highs out there after a record-breaking cold summer.
CHETRY: Yes, it's going to feel downright freezing today when it's 88 there, right?
MARCIANO: Yes, exactly. Break out the parka. You know they'll be wearing those scarves. It's so fashionable.
CHETRY: They can't wait though. It's so funny when you look at fashion and you see the people in L.A., they're wearing their boots. They're wearing their scarves and hats. I mean, they want to dress like fall even though it's 88.
MARCIANO: That's the way the stars play. It's all about how you look, not how you feel.
ROBERTS: It's been a cool summer, though, so they could use a warm day.
MARCIANO: Exactly.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
CHETRY: Well, country is coming home. For the first time since flood waters devastated Nashville, the Grand Ole Opry returns to the stage of the iconic Opry House tonight. It underwent a stunning renovation. And country star Trace Adkins showed our Amber Lyon around. We're going to take you inside coming up at the bottom of the hour. ROBERTS: They're here, and according to seven former members of the U.S. Air Force, they're not happy with us. A lot of jaws dropped yesterday at the Washington Press Club. A group of Air Force veterans, six of them former officers, is talking about UFO sightings through the '60s, '70s, and '80s.
CHETRY: What? They stopped after that?
ROBERTS: They decided they didn't like -- after the '80s they said, wow, we're getting out of this place.
They're convinced that extraterrestrials have been visiting our nuclear facilities and deactivated some missiles at a base in Montana in 1967.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT HASTINGS, UFO RESEARCHER: I believe, these gentlemen, believe that this planet is being visited by beings from another world who, for whatever reason, have taken an interest in the nuclear arms race which began at end of World War II. Regarding the missile shutdown incidents, my opinion, their opinion is that whoever are aboard these craft are sending a signal to both Washington and Moscow among others that we are playing with fire, that the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons potentially threatens the human race and the integrity of the planetary environment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Just a note here. He only looks like Howard Hesseman, he's not.
If extraterrestrials do make a public appearance on this planet, the U.N. apparently wants to be prepared. They're said to appoint Mazlan Othman, an astrophysicist from Malaysia, to coordinate mankind's response when they arrive.
CHETRY: All right. We need to find out more about this. I mean, this is --
ROBERTS: Doesn't the U.N. have more important things to do?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: And this is not a knock on all you UFO believers out there this morning.
CHETRY: No. I mean, when you've got six guys out there serious -- very, very seriously talking about this, and saying and claiming on top of it that the government sought to suppress that evidence --
ROBERTS: When you consider that the closest star where there could even potentially be life, and they don't think there's a possibility of it, is four light years away. What are the chances that people have come to visit --
CHETRY: People? I don't know if they're people.
ROBERTS: Or anything.
CHETRY: Maybe they have faster vehicles. Maybe they can bend the time space continuum. We're going to dig deeper on this board.
ROBERTS: Oh, boy, now, we're really getting heavy this morning.
CHETRY: All right. Well, let's switch topics. Let's talk about something --
ROBERTS: Dissertation on the theory of special relativity coming up after the break.
CHETRY: No, we're actually talking about some new questions after that unbelievable gas line explosion that took place in San Bruno, California. There's a new report out. It shows a dramatic increase in leaks at pipelines maintained by the company, Pacific Gas and Electric. We're digging deeper on that as well.
It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
ROBERTS: Coming up now at 15 minutes after the hour.
Pacific Gas and Electric, the operator of the San Bruno, California, pipeline that exploded earlier this month has reported gas leaks six times the national average. According to "The Los Angeles Times," PG&E has reported dozens of leaks in transmissions lines near highly populated or environmentally sensitive areas since 2004.
The NTSB is investigating the San Bruno blast, which killed seven people.
CHETRY: Well, more than 100 people protesting mountain-top coal mining have now been released. They were arrested yesterday outside the White House, charged with failing to obey and order to disperse.
The demonstrators are from several Appalachian coal states. They say that mountain-top mining destroys historic ranges, poisons water supplies, and pollutes the air.
ROBERTS: Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was front row at "Dancing with the Stars" last night to cheer on her daughter Bristol. Palin told the show's host she thought that Bristol's dancing was, quote, "amazing" and that it's, quote, "great to see all this courage, joy and exuberance".
CHETRY: That's right. She wouldn't - he asked her who was your favorite dancer, and this is before Bristol came on, and she said, you know -
ROBERTS: They all are. CHETRY: -- they're all great. And all the judges are too.
ROBERTS: And what about the judges? I think she said it's like before a hockey game, you don't want to upset the judge - the referees, right?
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: So, being very, very sort of politically neutral.
CHETRY: And there's a little bit of a controversy, was she booed? Was she not booed? Did the audience boo when he said her name? And (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: When he introduced her, I heard people cheer. But there was some booing prior - just prior to her introduction. So who knows what that was for?
CHETRY: There's a lot of booing on the show, and when people don't get the scores, the audience members don't get - their favorite getting a good score, they boo, as well.
ROBERTS: Think of the Olympics on steroids.
CHETRY: Well, under the new health care law, children, as we talked about, can remain on their parents' insurance until they're 26 years old. Well, that's not the case for military families. We'll explain why and what's being done to fix it.
We're "Minding Your Business", coming up.
It's 17 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour. Christine Romans is here, "Minding Your Business" for us this morning. She joins us now with an interesting story about health care.
A lot was made of the fact that each children could stay on their parents' insurance until they were 26 years old, except military children.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
CHETRY: Why is that?
ROMANS: That's because military benefits were set aside during health care reform, the health care reform debate. And when this was all going on, they said, look, your military benefits will not be affected by health care reform.
So what that means is that while the rest of the country -- the children of people in the rest of the country up to age 26 can stay on their parents' insurance, not so for military - the children of military veterans and for active military. They stay on until 21 or 23 if they are in college.
So, every single day, you guys, I get a letter from a veteran or from active military saying this isn't fair. It isn't fair that the rest of the country kids can stay on until 26 and - and my kid rolls off my insurance at 23. This needs to be fixed as -
CHETRY: But this was an oversight, not intentional?
ROMANS: This was an oversight. This is something that did not get addressed in health care reform, and I think that the architects of health care reform didn't understand how much dust this would kick up. Because now you have military family advocates who are pushing very, very hard to fix it. There was a fix that was in the defense bill. It didn't go anywhere. There's some - several other fixes. But Congress has to fix this if they want to extend these benefits.
How much would it cost? Well, it would cover - it would cover up to 700,000 people, cost about $170 million or $2,200 per child.
This is something that, in fact, many of the military groups want done. There's bipartisan support to fix it. But there's also bipartisan concern that you're admitting you didn't do health care reform right if you start going in there and tweaking some of the things that were -
ROBERTS: There's no - there's no possibility of fixing it before the midterms, but what about not long after that?
ROMANS: There - everyone wants to fix it and - everyone wants to fix it. There just hasn't been a vehicle yet that has gotten all the way through. So, we'll - we'll see.
But, in the meantime, this means that if you're 25 years old and your mom or dad is a military veteran or active military, you cannot stay on their insurance. If you're 25 years old and your parent works for a private company in this country, you can. So there is a disconnect there.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans this morning, "Minding Your Business".
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much.
Americans and religion - how much do we know about the religion that we practice? You'll be surprised to find out.
It's 23 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 25 minutes after the hour.
You may consider yourself a person of faith, but do you really know God? The Pew Research Center found that most Americans failed a quiz asking some of the most basic questions about religion. And Atheists and Agnostics did better than Catholics and Evangelicals on that quiz.
With us with Washington to talk more about it, Greg Smith. He's a senior researcher with the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life. And Stephen Prothero. He's a Religion Professor at Boston University.
Great to talk to both of you this morning. Thanks for coming in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for having us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.
ROBERTS: Just as we get into the discussion here, for the folks at home, I wanted to put up some of the questions. And these are some of the more difficult ones people found to answer.
First question is what is the religion of Maimonides? Only eight percent of people got this right. We're going to give you the answers in just a couple of minutes. Here's another one that only 27 percent of people got right. What religion do most people in Indonesia consider themselves to be? And the third question here, according to rulings by the Supreme Court, are public school teachers permitted to read from the Bible as literature?
Think about those questions. We'll give you the answers in just a couple of minutes.
But Greg, start us out here. What struck you as being the headline here? What was the surprise?
GREG SMITH, PEW FORUM ON RELIGION & PUBLIC LIFE: Well, I think the thing that was most striking to me was the strong performance on the survey by Atheists and Agnostics. Of all of the groups that we looked at, Atheists and Agnostics are among the top performers, along with Mormons and Jews. They outperformed, as you mentioned, Evangelical Christians, Catholics, Main Line Protestants and other groups.
ROBERTS: So, Steve, help us out here. Why is that?
STEPHEN PROTHERO, AUTHOR "GOD IS NOT ONE...": Well, Atheists and Agnostics spend a lot of time fighting with religious people about religion, so they have a - a need, you know, on the basis of their argument to learn something about Christianity and about Islam, et cetera.
But I think the other side of this, really, that religious people just know very little about their own traditions or the religions of others. This was an argument I made in a book of mine a few years ago called "Religious Literacy" where I said Americans are really functionally illiterate when it comes to religion. They don't know much about their own religions and they don't know much about the religions of other people.
ROBERTS: And it really is striking, isn't it, Greg, that the areligious know more than the religious do. But particularly when you consider how religious a nation this is. We're probably the most religious nation in the industrialized world.
SMITH: Well, that's right.
But one thing we should keep in mind is that if we look at the population as a whole, it is true that people with the highest levels of religious commitment, those people who say they attend religious services regularly and that religion is very important in their lives, those people actually do a little bit better on the survey than people who are less religious.
It's just that you have this small group, Atheists (INAUDIBLE) quite - quite - they really aren't particularly religious and they do quite well on the survey.
ROBERTS: OK. That said, let's go now back to our questions because people have been mulling them over for the last couple of minutes and we'll give you the answer.
The - the answer to the first question, what is the religion of Maimonides? Of course many people in New York will know, Maimonides is the namesake for a hospital here. He was also a Jewish philosopher and rabbi in medieval time. So he was Jewish.
Here's the answer to the second question, what religion do most people in Indonesia consider themselves to be? The answer to that question, Muslim, because Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world.
And the third question, according to rulings by the Supreme Court, are public school teachers permitted to read from the Bible as literature? The answer to that question is yes.
Stephen, are - are most people - because they didn't do well on this quiz, is that a suggestion that most people are taking faith on faith?
PROTHERO: Yes.
I think I want to add - before I answer that, I want to add quickly that those are relatively difficult questions, but there's a lot of really easy questions on this quiz. For example, you know, we didn't ask, is the Pope Catholic? But we came pretty close when we asked is the Dalai Lama Buddhist?
ROBERTS: Yes.
PROTHERO: And most Americans don't get that question right.
ROBERTS: Wow.
PROTHERO: So I think in terms of faith and - and knowledge here, I think we have a gap, clearly, between faith and knowledge. And what's going on is that American religion, particularly on the Christianity side, has gravitated toward this Evangelical religion of the heart where it's really all about feeling and loving Jesus and having a relationship with Him rather than knowing something about the traditions. I think that's one piece of it. And another is, is that we're doing a really poor job in our public schools and of - of teaching kids about the religions of the world.
ROBERTS: Do you think that's correct, Greg, that you don't need to know Jesus to love him?
SMITH: Well, I certainly can't speak to whether or not it's correct that knowing about these things is a prerequisite for having strong faith. We know that the United States is a very religious country. It's a nation of believers.
But as the survey shows, it's also true that there are major elements of religion, major elements of people's own faiths that they're not aware of. There's no question about that.
ROBERTS: Stephen, one other point we should make here is that there wasn't enough of a Muslim sample to make it into the poll, but what you did find was talking to other folks, atheists, agnostic, Jewish, Mormon, Protestant, and Catholic that there was a real knowledge gap about Islam.
PROTHERO: Right. I mean, we found that only about half of Americans can name that the Koran is the holy book of Islam. Only about half know that Ramadan is the Muslim holy month. And so, we just -- we just spent about a month having this conversation in America about burning of Koran.
And what we know, based in the survey, is about half the Americans are sort of scratching their heads and wondering, well, you know, what's the Koran? Is it -- is it a novel or something somebody wrote in the Middle East?
I mean, they don't even necessarily know what it is. It's hard to have a national conversation about Islam when we have such a knowledge deficit when it comes to the Muslim tradition.
ROBERTS: Well, it's a fascinating study and well worth reading through. Stephen Prothero and Greg Smith, thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.
PROTHERO: Thanks for having me.
SMITH: Thank you.
ROBERTS: If you want to test your knowledge, by the way, about religion, take the interactive quiz at CNN's "Belief blog." That's at CNN.com/Belief. And see how much you know about religion this morning.
CHETRY: Sounds good.
Well, meanwhile, it's 31 minutes past the hour -- time for a look at this morning's top stories.
An American service member is suspected of killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding another in Iraq. Military officials are calling it a noncombat incident. The Defense Department is now investigating.
ROBERTS: Another high-profile departure from the Obama White House looking all but certain this morning. Rahm Emanuel, the president's chief of staff, is expected to announce on Friday that he is stepping down in order to run for mayor of Chicago. Sources are telling CNN deputy chief of staff, Peter Rouse, could be named interim chief during the search for a permanent replacement.
CHETRY: Water is higher than they've ever seen. Wisconsin's governor now declaring a state of emergency in Columbia County after heavy rains pushed the Wisconsin River near Portage to an all-time high. The river is expected to peak again today.
Officials say at least 100 homes are in danger. The mayor says that local prison inmates are helping with sandbagging around a levee that started crumbling over the weekend.
ROBERTS: Country comes home tonight for the first time since flood waters nearly destroyed it five months ago. The Grand Ole Opry House reopens tonight in Nashville.
CHETRY: And certainly, it's going to be a show. Country star and Grand Ole Opry member Trace Adkins gave our Amber Lyon a backstage tour. Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, how high did the water get?
TRACE ADKINS, COUNTRY STAR: On stage, it was four feet deep.
LYON: So, it would have gone over my head right here.
ADKINS: It would have been over your head right here. Over my head right here.
LYON: So, someone who might not know a lot about the history of country music, what is so legendary about this stage here at the Grand Ole Opry?
ADKINS: The Grand Ole Opry really put country music on a national stage. And every artist -- virtually, every artist that's ever had a record deal and had any measurable success has played on the Grand Ole Opry.
There's -- in this particular circle right here, all the legends have stood. This was on stage at the Ryman Auditorium. Hank Williams has stood in this circle. Patsy Cline has stood in this circle. Johnny Cash, everybody, has stood in these circles.
LYON: So, after the floods, they had to redo all the dressing rooms in here because the water came up so high. And Trace is going to give us a little tour back there.
ADKINS: This is Little Jimmy dressing room. He also has his dressing room. LYON: This is a Jimmy Dickens. Poor Jimmy is only 4'8" and Jimmy had to stand at a ladder to be at eye level with Trace.
ADKINS: He was like Garth Brooks in his day. I mean --
LYON: A stud.
ADKINS: I mean, he wasn't ever huge, but he was huge.
This is the debut room, you know, everybody -- there are different quotes on the wall in here from people about their first night performing on the Grand Ole Opry. But it's always something that scares everybody to death.
LYON: So, this is where they put all the rookies in.
ADKINS: Yes, for your first night. There's Taylor Swift, Darius Rucker.
LYON: So, what is the importance of tomorrow night's concert? For country music?
ADKINS: Well, it's just -- you know, we're back in business, you know? We're back home. We're back home.
We'll never go away. We're here. We're here through the -- the apocalypse.
LYON: Nothing's going to get rid of you. No water.
ADKINS: We're the cockroaches of the music world. We'll never go away.
I hope they don't put that on there. It's terrible.
LYONS: I know. Is that the final quote we're going to end with here? What is that, Trace?
(CROSSTALK)
ADKINS: We will through the nuclear disaster.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Amber Lyon joins us now live from the Grand Ole Opry House.
The question I had is: where do you buy Trace Adkins' voice? No. How much money did it cost?
LYON: Yes, I know. Isn't that the most amazing voice?
ROBERTS: It really is pretty amazing both speaking and singing. But what was the cost to restore the Grand Ole Opry House?
LYON: Well, it cost quite a pretty penny. It was about $20 million.
And just to put things in perspective here, we were speaking with the manager. And he said that everything below that wooden line you're seeing had to be replaced. So, this entire floor was like a giant swimming pool when this flooded. And this stage is made of wood. That had to be replaced, as well.
But one thing that remains, as we showed you in the piece, is this circle which is the heart of country music and really symbolizes that they're going to continue on, especially with tonight's concert.
CHETRY: Wow, it should be quite a show tonight. I'm sure there's a lot of expectation. A lot of people very excited about it. We'll be watching. Thanks, Amber.
Well, it's 35 minutes past the hour.
President Obama is turning up the heat on failing schools. He's targeting bad teachers. He's insisting that our kids have to spend more time in the classroom each year to catch up. It's creating a little bit of tension with the teachers' unions.
Up next, the president of the American Federation of Teachers joins us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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CHETRY: Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
President Obama says that our education system in this country is badly broken and needs to be fixed fast. He says that he has that plan to do it. The president appeared yesterday on NBC's "Today" show, and he was armed with some depressing statistics.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't defend a status quo in which a third of our kids are dropping out. You can't defend a status quo when you've got 2,000 schools across the country that are drop-out factories.
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CHETRY: Well, the president wants to extend the school year by a month. He wants to fire failing teachers, and recruit 10,000 new math and science teachers over the next two years.
But are the teachers' unions on board with the president's proposals?
Well, joining us this morning is Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Thanks for joining us this morning.
RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: My pleasure.
CHETRY: You said it's been a long week, "Waiting for Superman," the documentary of schools came out. And, you know, there's been a lot of talk about education. And during that talk, there's been some statistics that don't look well for America's schools and for America's students.
WEINGARTEN: Right.
CHETRY: What do you think the biggest problem is right now?
WEINGARTEN: Look, the biggest problem we have to get onboard -- all of us -- to find common ground to fix these problems, because we have a global economy now that's quite different than when most of us went to school in 10, 15, 20 years ago, even five years ago. So, we have to help prepare all kids with critical thinking, knowledge, and problem-solving skills, and we have to help all kids get a real high school education and go to college, and get a real college education.
So, we do have the -- the president's right, I saw his whole speech yesterday. And I rooted it on. None of us can be happy with the status quo. We all have to be change agents and we all have to step up and take more responsibility.
CHETRY: Do you think it's fair that teachers' unions have gotten the brunt of some of the anger, saying that they're the problem, protecting bad teachers, the so-called rubber rooms, and other things where teachers who may come into the system first may still be some of the best teachers --
WEINGARTEN: Right.
CHETRY: -- but are the first ones to lose their jobs if there's layoffs?
WEINGARTEN: Well, look, I do think that we've gotten -- it's easy because we're nameless and faceless. But 70 percent of America's teachers want to be in union because they want something that helps give them the tools to do their jobs and helps protect them against arbitrary inconspicuousness.
But that's not the issue. The issue is in terms of whether or not you're talking about bad teachers or charter schools or things like that, no one tolerates bad teachers. No one wants to.
And our union is actually taking some concrete steps to do something about that. But we have to all work together.
I heard a story yesterday that broke my heart. Someone got up and said that a teacher taught two days a week and the principal said the tenure system stopped them from firing that teacher.
That's wrong. That's not what tenure is. Tenure is a due process system.
Ultimately, managers have to manage, teachers have to teach. But we need to have for teachers the preparation for them to do their jobs.
Let's look at what happens in places like Finland that outpace us. They actually spend much more time investing in teachers before they come into teaching like we invest in doctors here. But when we get into school, we have to help teachers become good teachers. We have to have new evaluation systems that focus on continuous improvement and then evaluate teachers.
CHETRY: All right. I want to ask you to break down a little bit of that. One of the things that you mentioned was about the concern about tenure. And it's something that actually New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg brought up, as well. When he talked about it, he says that he wants to overhaul the system and grant job security, which is the tenure based on performance. He says he'll make tenure something that has to actually be earned.
You oversaw that local teachers union --
WEINGARTEN: Right.
CHETRY: -- here in New York. Do you support that?
WEINGARTEN: Look, we -- Mike Bloomberg and I when I was in New York City, we did three different contracts and each one of those contracts reformed the tenure process. You're always reforming it. Tenure is only due process as a hearing.
What you really have to reform is the evaluation system and, frankly, I give the mayor in New York City, the chancellor, and Mike Mulgrew, my successor here, a lot of credit because they and the New York state folk won the race to the top grant because they came up with a new evaluation system.
So, the key for them is they have to actually implement that. Because evaluation is how you judge teachers. It's multiple-measured. You have to look at a teacher practice and you have to look at what the students are learning.
CHETRY: Right. But ultimately should a teacher be judged by the success of their students? Because if we're doing that, and this is another unbelievable stat that was in the film. It said if you even took the top 5 percent of our students in the nation, they would actually rank 23rd out of 29th for developed nations.
So, why do we still have this lag? What is going wrong even though we're spending far more money than we were decades ago?
WEINGARTEN: Actually, what's happening is that all of the first- world nations and even the non-first world nations are spending more if they really care about kids.
So, ultimately, what we have to do is three things: number one, we have to really develop great teachers. And that means like -- like they do in Finland, Singapore, and some of our top education nations --
CHETRY: Right.
WEINGARTEN: -- they prepare teachers. We have a focus on continuous teacher development and we judge teachers by multiple measures. Meaning you look at students' standardize test scores and you look at all sorts of other things.
That's what we're doing. The American Federation of teachers has been working with about 50 districts this year since we launched new evaluation program ourselves. We're really looking at how we can change that around. That's the key. But it's not just on the teachers.
CHETRY: You know, that's what I wanted to ask you. Bottom line: how much does what household a child comes from, what their home environment is, and how involved their parents are determine their success?
WEINGARTEN: Well, see, I -- we're not a niche market in public education. So, whether or not a parent is involved, we still have an obligation to a child.
CHETRY: Yes. But doesn't it make your job easier if parents are teaching their kids and if there's a home environment that supports learning?
WEINGARTEN: It makes the child's potential -- it makes us our ability to help the child get to his or her God given potential easier. But ultimately, that's why we say, let's look at having good teachers supported by good leaders. Let's make sure we have these common standards and have a curriculum so that we can implement them, a robust engaged curriculum, not one that's just filling the bubble sheet.
And third, this is why like what Jeff Canada (ph) is doing in Harlem, what they're doing up in Syracuse. We need to have conditions that trump socioeconomic issues. So, after school programs, early childhood programs, the health programs that we see. So, ultimately, we need to help the whole child. But let me just end with this, the teachers in America -- most of them are incredible people.
They dig deep into their pockets to help kids all the time with supplies. They're in schools early and in schools late. We need to help them do a great job with kids. All of us have to change, but we need to help the great teachers in America do a great job.
CHETRY: I think a lot of people would agree with that. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, thanks for joining us this morning.
WEINGARTEN: Thank you, thank you.
CHETRY: John. ROBERTS: Forty-six minutes after the hour now, and still to come on the Most News in the Morning, Rob Marciano got this morning's travel forecast. He's up right after the break.
And we've seen some Democrats trying to distance themselves from President Obama, but one Democrat is taking it a step further in siding with former President Bush. Details just ahead from the CNNPolitics.com desk.
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ROBERTS: It's 49 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Our Rob Marciano is tracking it all from the Extreme Weather Center in Atlanta this morning. And Rob, we had all that rain, all those problems in Wisconsin, and a lot of rain left still this morning in the east coast.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a lot of rain. As a matter of fact the pattern, guys, is going to keep it relatively cool and relatively wet across the east coast for the next couple of days. Not only from the Carolinas up through New York, but back through Florida, as well. A bit of a tropical connection here. So, it's going to keep oncoming. And in some spots, really come down hard, and it's going to be flooding. We're going to see some flooding issues.
We have flood watches right now in effect for the D.C. area. You see some of these showers rolling up towards New York. So, generally speaking, an unsettled weather pattern to say the least here over the next 48 hours. Wilmington, North Carolina just got hammered yesterday with rain. Over 10 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period. And this pattern will probably bring you more. Potentially with a tropical system that's going to be rolling up the Florida shoreline.
I'm going to show that to you right -- get the right button. It's right here. We've been watching this thing percolate for a couple of days now, and now, the National Hurricane Center is giving a very high probability that develops into something and then drifts up towards Florida and then potentially the Carolinas. So, a tropical connection for sure, might even see a tropical storm here before too long. John, Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks so much. We'll see you again soon.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, Vice President Biden on the campaign trail. He had a blunt message for the Democrats' liberal base. Details straight ahead from the CNNPolitics.com desk. It's 51 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most Politics in the Morning. We're looking at the Political Ticker. There are new poll numbers revealing which party Americans believe not only caused our current economic problems but can also cure them. ROBERTS: Our senior political editor, Mark Preston, is live this morning at the CNNPolitics.com desk. Good morning, Mark.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, good morning, John. Good morning, Kiran. Who is more responsible for the economic problems that we're facing as a nation? In this new CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll, Americans say that republicans are. 41 percent of Americans in our new poll say that Republicans in Congress are to blame for where we're at with our economy. Only 35 percent said it's Democrats.
But just to show what a tough year it is for Democrats, we asked another question. We said, look, who is more likely to help improve the economy? Again, Republicans come out on top, 47 percent of Americans think that Republicans have the answers to improve the economy while only 41 percent say it's democrats. Not surprisingly, the most important issue on American minds right now is certainly for the election. 49 percent say it is the economy.
You know, for more than a dozen years now, Democrats have been running against President Bush. You know, they've been knocking him in ads. They've been trying to use him as a foil. Not Earl Pomeroy who's a congressman from North Dakota, a Democrat running for reelection. In fact, George Bush plays a cameo appearance in a new campaign ad right now that Pomeroy is running up in North Dakota. George Bush in 2004 won the state with 63 percent of the vote.
In 2008, John McCain won that state with 53 percent of the vote. Earl Pomeroy's campaign tells me that, in fact, they're using Bush in this ad because it shows that he is independent, and he's not beholden to his party leaders here in Washington. And closing with Joe Biden who has been known to slip up every now and again and have a gaffe here and there, well, in New Hampshire yesterday, he said some things that would upset the Democratic base.
He said remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look for the alternatives. This comment has really enraged the Democratic base, certainly, the liberal base here in Washington and across the country -- John, Kiran?
ROBERTS: All right. Yes. I tell you, when Joe opens his mouth, you never know what's going to come out. But I mean, you know, there are probably a lot of Democrats who say he said the right thing.
CHETRY: Yes. In fact, Suzanne earlier today, said that's sort of the message the White House wants out there. You know, look at the alternatives, and we're not so bad.
PRESTON: That's right.
ROBERTS: Mark, great to see you this morning. Thanks so much. We're going to check back in with Mark in our next hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, go to our website at CNNPolitics.com.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. We have all your top stories in just a moment. It's now 57 minutes past the hour.
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