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American Morning
Remembering Richard Holbrooke; Monster Storm Misery in the Midwest; First Lady Talks Christmas Gifts for President; Health Care Challenge; Interview with Ken Cuccinelli; Halle Berry' Fight Against Domestic Violence; Smartphones On Front Lines
Aired December 14, 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: Good morning to you. Glad you're with us on this Tuesday, December 14th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. Here's what we're talking about this morning.
The Midwest taking an absolute beating. A monster snowstorm burying cars on roads with people stuck inside them. Brutal bone-chilling temperatures compounding the misery this morning. And in some states, there is more snow on the way today.
CHETRY: Remembering Richard Holbrooke this morning. He dedicated his life to making the world a more peaceful place. And this morning, the nation mourns the death of top diplomat Holbrooke. He died yesterday. He was 69 years old. We're going to look back at a career that started during Vietnam and ended with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
ROBERTS: And score one for opponents of, quote, "Obamacare." A federal judge declares a cornerstone of the new health care law unconstitutional. We'll talk with Virginia's attorney general. He's the man who challenged the federal government.
CHETRY: Up first, though, we're talking weather and this monster storm piling on the pain in the Midwest. From Wisconsin all the way to western New York, relentless driving snow in a dangerous deep freeze, burying people in their cars in Indianapolis. Some people were trapped for more than 12 hours. Rescuers say they still don't know if they found everyone this morning.
ROBERTS: And what a mess it was at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Well over a thousand flights cancelled yesterday. Zero visibility on the runways, and zero chance of scoring a hotel room for hundreds of stranded travelers.
CHETRY: So whether you were flying or you were fearing for your friends and relatives who were trying to do so, or if you were trying to dig out from feet of snow, we have this story covered for you this morning.
ROBERTS: Our Jacqui Jeras is tracking the enormous storm from the extreme weather center in Atlanta. First, though, let's send it out to Rob Marciano. He is live in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where they're pretty chagrin today. They're used to snow but not this much this often, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's the big issue. You know, this is the snow belt, but it's been relentless and we haven't even reached December 21st.
The big freeze is on. Snow continues to fall across northeast Ohio and a lot of places across the Great Lakes. And, you know, just the snow piling up, you know, there's several issues that come with that. Obviously cleaning the roads. But because of the bitterly cold air, there's been a number of water lines that have frozen and burst around the Cleveland area. So that brings to new account a whole other slew of issues.
About 200 businesses and schools still shut down for the second day in a row here in northeast Ohio. And this is another week where they've seen bitterly cold air and lake effect snows continuing to fall here. And even for the winter-hardened folks here in northeast Ohio, even this has been a little bit too much. Yesterday, we caught up with the mayor of Chagrin Falls, and here's what he had to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR TOM BRICK, CHAGRIN FALLS, OHIO: In terms of early, this is nasty. In terms of winter, this is normally as bad as it gets. But, so we have had storms like this in the past. But you don't have them every winter, and you certainly don't have them on a repeated basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: They got another foot of snow last night. Other places across northeast Ohio, Ashtabula got 19 inches with this particular storm, 21 inches in Chesterland. This on top of what they got last week, and in some cases that was two or three feet. Many of the areas here in northeast Ohio have already received three times what they normally would see up until now in this December. And we're just beginning this whole winter season.
Winter storm warnings, guys, are up until 7:00 tomorrow morning until the next storm comes in. But, you know, it's hard to talk too much nasty things about this. You've got pretty much a Norman Rockwell painting behind me. So they're just trying to chagrin and bear it here, I guess, in Chagrin Falls. Back to you, guys, in New York.
CHETRY: It certainly makes for a beautiful picture. But yes, if you're trapped in, you know, the highways that were covered in snow, not fun. If you have to dig out, not fun. But it is beautiful. Thanks, Rob.
Also, the winter storm still doing damage. Jacqui Jeras is tracking it from the extreme weather center. We're still dealing with a lot of bitter cold in many parts of the country as well, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's a widespread story this morning as temperatures below freezing all the way into the Deep South. So the deep freeze impacting millions of people this morning. And check out the feels-like temperature. Feels like one in Nashville as well as Atlanta, 15 in Jacksonville, 26 in Tampa, and 31 degrees as the temperature your body feels right now in Miami. The northeast not fairing much better. Mostly teens here, and we're still dealing with wind chills below zero across parts of the upper Midwest.
Now, we are expecting some gradual warming, but it's going to take a couple of days. This deep freeze really sticking around, and much of the high temperatures today are going to be staying below freezing. Now that cold air moving over those warmer lake waters. And we saw those pictures from Rob and that's going to continue to be the big story on the least side of the lakes today.
That area of low pressure that's been driving in those winds is up to the north now, but it's going to stay a really tight gradient between that low and the high that's plunging in from the east. And so we're going to continue to see the snow showers. We've got a little bit going on in New York City this morning and down towards D.C., but only expecting maybe one to two inches, making it tough for the commute this morning, but should be fine by the afternoon. The least side of the lake from Cleveland over towards the south towns of Buffalo is where we'll see some of the heaviest snowfall accumulations. A couple of feet over the next couple of days. And we don't think that lake effect snow machine is really going to be turning off until maybe late in the day on Thursday and then into Friday before we see those changes.
High pressure then is the big controlling feature pretty much for everybody else across the nation's midsection and southeast. So even though it's cool, guys, at least it's going to look good out there, right, with plenty of sunshine.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui. We'll check back in with you in about a half an hour's time.
In Wisconsin, the plows have been going nonstop since this weekend's blizzard dumped up to 24 inches of snow. This morning, crews are putting down salt to try to keep the major roadways from freezing over. Many of the side streets have already turned to ice. Officials say there's not much they can do, but wait until the warmer weather moves back again.
CHETRY: Well, and Jacqui mentioned this, but these unseasonably cold temperatures stretching as far south as central Florida. Right now, the temperature in Orlando is just 30 degrees. The average low for the area is usually in the 50s. We've talked about the concerns for citrus farmers there.
ROBERTS: Further north in Tennessee, check out this video sent to us by iReporter Phillip Mullins. Yes, that's Tennessee. Shot this video from the deck of his house in Mountain City. Says it's been snowing there for two days. And forecasters did not expect the snow to let up until later on this evening.
And if you've got severe weather happening in your area, send us an iReport. Just go to CNN.com and click on "iReport."
CHETRY: Well, they finally got to play the Vikings/Giants game last night. As we said it was relocated to Detroit because the superdome, the Metrodome, rather, collapsed under the weight of all that snow.
Well, it marked the end of one of the most remarkable streaks in sports history. After 297 consecutive starts over 19 seasons, Brett Favre was on the sidelines last night as the Vikings ran -- Giants, rather, ran over his Vikings. The game was played in Detroit as we said because the Metrodome's roof collapsed. Seventeen inches of snow over the weekend in Minneapolis, but the extra day of rest was not enough to heal Favre's injured shoulder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT FAVRE, QUARTERBACK, MINNESOTA VIKINGS: It's probably been long overdue. It's probably been a lot of times that the streak should have ended. Whether it ended today, several weeks, end of last season. It's been a great run, great run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Sure has been. Favre's streak began in 1992 when he was just 23 years old. George H.W. Bush was the president. There have been 212 other starting quarterbacks in the NFL since then.
ROBERTS: Yes. Nothing worse than ending the streak, sitting on the sidelines, and then watching the team lose, as well.
NFL and the Jets coming down hard on an assistant coach. And good that they did. He tripped a Dolphins player as he was running the sidelines. The team suspended Sal Alosi for the rest of the season. Take a look at this. And fined him $25,000. Alosi apologized saying that his actions were inexcusable and irresponsible.
You have to -- what was going through his mind? Hey, here he comes. I think I'll trip him. That will be funny.
CHETRY: Well, whatever it was, it was a lapse in judgment for sure. And he's lucky. The player was down for about a minute.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: But he's lucky he didn't get hurt worse.
Well, a stunning turn of events in the baseball world while you were sleeping. All of a sudden Cliff Lee is a Philadelphia Philly again. He was the most sought after free agent pitcher on the market. A lot of people thought he was going to the Yankees and get offered there. Almost everyone thought that or perhaps maybe the Texas Rangers. But Lee apparently took less money to go back to the team that traded him away after the 2009 World Series. Reports say the contract is five years. And it's seen worth a paltry $100 million to $135 million. But he is smart to go back there. They have an incredible pitching roster. And, I mean, they look great heading into the next season.
ROBERTS: And if you're making $100 million to $135 million over five years, taking less money is all kind of like a relevant thing.
CHETRY: I know, but a lot of people were surprised that he didn't go with the Yankees. But, you know, the Phillies are looking good this year.
ROBERTS: Phillies love him again, so why not? You know, that happens from time to time. They love you one day, they don't. Then they say no, we love you, come on back.
He brokered an end to the war in Bosnia, tirelessly sought peace in Afghanistan until the day he died. We're live at the White House where President Obama today is remembering diplomat Richard Holbrooke.
CHETRY: A legal roadblock for President Obama's health care overhaul. A federal judge says that requiring every American to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. We're going to talk with Virginia's attorney general who challenged that law.
ROBERTS: And with much of the country in a deep freeze today, an idea that will definitely warm your heart. How about a robotic snow blower that's sure to clear your driveway better than the neighborhood kids? It's coming up on nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up now on 12 minutes after the hour. President Obama called Richard Holbrooke a true giant of American foreign policy. Holbrooke died yesterday at a Washington hospital after surgery for a tear in his aorta. The brusque, high-octane diplomat was the president's point man in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was Holbrooke who hammered out the peace deal that ended the war in Bosnia. That was 15 years ago this week. He died at the age of 69. And his passing leaves a major void in the president's policy for war and peace in Afghanistan. We'll get more on that from senior White House correspondent Ed Henry at 6:30 Eastern this morning.
CHETRY: Meantime, a final vote in the Senate on extending tax cuts to all Americans could come as early as today. President Obama's compromise deal with Republicans easily cleared a procedural vote yesterday. Disgruntled House Democrats have threatened to try to change the deal. They're still upset about tax cuts for the top income earners. They're also now balking at tax exemptions for wealthy estates.
ROBERTS: And the embattled head of the Republican National Committee says he's going to fight to keep his job. Chairman Michael Steele announced plans to seek a second term during a conference call last night with members of the RNC. Many Republicans expected him to step down. And he's going to face at least six challengers when the RNC selects a chairman. That will be next month.
CHETRY: So what do you get the most powerful man in the world who presumably has everything for Christmas? First Lady Michelle Obama won't say what she's planning to get the president, but she took some suggestions from children during a visit to Children's National Medical Center in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Any president gift ideas?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A watch.
OBAMA: A watch? OK. That's a suggestion. What do you think I should get him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should get him a new suit.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Good idea. The president needs a new suit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could get Barack Obama a new hot tub.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: You think he's got an old hot tub?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The kids are hilarious. So she was cracking up about it. Mrs. Obama said that daughters Malia and Sasha are in charge of getting Bo's holiday gift.
ROBERTS: Coming up, if you're looking for something for Christmas, you might want to consider this. It will get you out from underneath a mountain of snow. Could be a job for the snow bot. We'll tell you what a group of college engineering students have created to clear snow with not even lifting a finger.
CHETRY: And it was a star-studded wedding in Palm Beach. There were actors and actresses including Cameron Diaz and a certain Yankees slugger all in attendance. We'll have details on that too coming up.
Fifteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Seventeen minutes past the hour this morning. It's "Morning Talker" time. Stories that had us chatting in the newsroom.
How about this one? This would be a good gift if it was available - if it was available yet for sale, maybe on SkyMall or Brookstone or something. It's the wonderful Snow Bot. When it's piled high and the wind chill's zipping to zero, call in Mr. Snow Bot. Everything you want in a snow blower, because you don't even have to leave the house. I guess it's like the rumba for snow.
It's the brain child of mechanical engineering students at Purdue University. They're still testing Snow Bot out, but they think that eventually it'll sell for about $1,500.
ROBERTS: It doesn't - doesn't seem to be throwing the snow very far. But it's -
CHETRY: Yes. It's moving in a short - ROBERTS: Grind - grinding it up a little bit.
From snowstorms here in the United States to a nasty sand storm in Saudi Arabia, iReporter Alphonse Dagher shot this video from a skyscraper in Riyadh. Take a look at this coming in. You could see this dust cloud rolling in. Traffic slowed down to a crawl yesterday due to the poor visibility. Hello? No kidding. The whole thing lasted about two hours. But it looks like a scene out of sort of - a movie like -
CHETRY: It does.
ROBERTS: -- "Independence Day".
CHETRY: It does. Wow.
ROBERTS: You know, the way it comes in like that.
CHETRY: And we're complaining about the snow. Look at that thing.
ROBERTS: Wow.
CHETRY: Well, she is denying they're an item, but actress Cameron Diaz and Yankees' slugger Alex Rodriguez were spotted together at a wedding this weekend in Palm Beach, Florida. They were attending the marriage of A-Rod's teammate Nick Swisher to actress JoAnna Garcia. The pair reportedly tried to give reporters the slip by leaving the affair separately.
ROBERTS: That always works.
Oprah Winfrey creating a media frenzy down under. The TV talk show queen taping two shows before 6,000 screaming fans in Sydney, Australia's famed Opera House, which is being renamed the Oprah House for the event. Among them 302 U.S. audience members along for an all- expenses paid week-long trip called Oprah's ultimate Australian adventure. Among the star-studded guests that she had on, Russell Crowe, Jay-Z and Bon Jovi, who hit the highest country gross for the year 2010 and almost $150 million.
CHETRY: I mean, he gets around.
ROBERTS: In a bad economy.
CHETRY: People love him.
Well, not everything at this event was picture perfect. Hugh Jackman tried to make a grand entrance by swooping onto the stage via zip line. Unfortunately came in too fast. He smacked his face on some scaffolding. The actor ended up with a black eye, which he treated with an ice pack and some sips of red wine.
ROBERTS: The red wine being -
CHETRY: That would cure it.
ROBERTS: -- the important part there, yes.
CHETRY: Well, coming up, a federal judge siding with opponents of the president's health care overhaul. The State of Virginia challenged a key provision, the one that required all Americans to buy health insurance. We're going to talk with Virginia's attorney general just ahead.
ROBERTS: Plus, actress Halle Berry talks about one of her most important roles - helping women to turn their lives around. Hear why it's a cause that is very dear to her, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-three minutes now after the hour.
The White House plans to appeal a ruling by a federal court judge in Virginia that says a key provision of the landmark health care legislation is unconstitutional. It is the first major setback for the president's new law, a battle that seems destined to be decided by the Supreme Court.
Virginia's attorney general Ken Cuccinelli brought the suit and he joins us now from Virginia. Ken, great to talk to you this morning.
But just so folks at home really get a - a sense of this, why are you against the requirement that all people have to - who could afford to, at least, have to carry health insurance?
KEN CUCCINELLI, VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Right.
Well, the - there's obviously a lot of things we need to do in the area of health reform. I'm very sympathetic to that. But you have to stay within the boundaries of the constitution, and there's no power given to Congress or the president to order you and I and other Americans to buy any product, and this has never ever been tried by any Congress before and we think it's because they've all recognized they didn't have the power to do this.
And the judge yesterday recognized that they don't have the power to order us to buy a product, in this case health insurance. But if they can do it here, they can order us to buy cars, to buy asparagus, to buy gym memberships, to use the examples that were talked about in court in our case.
ROBERTS: Yes. The - the big question in the constitution is whether or not - the constitutionality is whether or not this regulates an activity under the commerce clause of the constitution -
CUCCINELLI: Right.
ROBERTS: -- or if it's an inactivity.
Now, two courts have previously upheld the constitutionality of this program. Most recently in your state, Lynchburg, Virginia, Federal Judge Norman Moon wrote, quote, "Far from inactivity, by choosing to forego insurance, plaintiffs are making an economic decision to try to pay for health care services later out of pocket rather than now through the purchase of insurance, collectively shifting billions of dollars on to other market participants."
They're basically saying that -
CUCCINELLI: Right.
ROBERTS: -- by their inactivity, they're causing pain and suffering, or harm, at least, to - to other people. What do you say to that argument?
CUCCINELLI: Well, the -- Judge Moon there in the Western district of Virginia, along with the judge in Michigan, adopted the federal argument, and that is that the economic decision, as they characterize it, to do nothing, to not buy health insurance, which Judge Moon goes on to call inactivity, is the same for legal purposes as the years and years, decades of economic activity or activities affecting economics that have been the basis of all of our commerce clause cases to date. All of them.
ROBERTS: Right.
CUCCINELLI: And so they're squeezing this decision to do nothing into the rubric of participating in an activity, and this is a real logical leap. It's a real leap of language, and - and those judges have adopted it.
Judge Hudson yesterday refused to make that extraordinary leap, that has never been done before, and in Michigan the judge acknowledged that what he was doing was totally unprecedented. And - and we don't think the Supreme Court is going to make that leap either. As you noted in your intro, this will ultimately be decided at the Supreme Court, and we're glad to get a win yesterday.
But if I lost everything except one, it's the last one that I'm hoping to win.
ROBERTS: All right. So let's talk about the - the practical effect of - of this, because Attorney General Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius, the Health Secretary, talked about this in an editorial in the "Washington Post" today where they say that, you know, the - the new provision such as not being able to deny somebody for a pre- existing condition are going to be harmed by this decision because in order to be able to fund those provisions, everybody has to be contributing.
CUCCINELLI: Right. Well, there's no question that during the course of the case, the federal government conceded in their briefs that if the individual mandate was unconstitutional, at least the insurance pieces of the bill had to fall because, as you note, it was the financing mechanism. Instead of taxing us to pay for all of these expensive new elements of an entitlement, they ordered us all to pay our own money to private insurers, and then they ordered those private insurers how they had to set up the insurance. So they're trying to get an - make an end run here around the taxing power and around leveeing a tax. Ironically enough, that was their fallback argument when they got to court that the penalty for not obeying that order of government was, in fact, a tax -
ROBERTS: But - but - but -
CUCCINELLI: -- and the governor - and the judge rejected that, as well.
ROBERTS: But what do you say to people who may have a preexisting condition, who, if this ruling is upheld at the Supreme Court, may not be able to get insurance?
CUCCINELLI: Well, I certainly sympathize strongly with those folks, and the reality is that I think the way this bill was pursued was very much in a direction where a lot of things that I think a lot of people could've agreed upon, like letting us compete interstate. We can't do that legally now. It's something I tried to get us to do here in Virginia when I was a state senator to try and solve the problem of preexisting conditions.
I had a constituent who had a child with developmental deafness. It wasn't covered by insurance mandated in Virginia and she asked me to get it mandated and I said, would it be good enough if you could buy from another state? She mentioned Colorado offered such insurance, and I - and she said, well, yes, that would do the trick.
ROBERTS: So - so you're saying basically that -
CUCCINELLI: I was not (INAUDIBLE) in that effort, but - but those - that insurance is out there, it's available, but not in Virginia. And it's not legal to - for a Virginia citizen to go buy it in Colorado, as ridiculous as that may sound to people. That simple change would force competition across 50 states that we don't now have, and that woman would be able to buy insurance that she needs.
ROBERTS: So your argument is, there are better ways to do this than the way that the government has done it thus far?
CUCCINELLI: No - no question. For - for 45 years, we've had one solution when we've all gotten together and recognized that we have problems in health care, and that's more government control. And what we need is more citizen control.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CUCCINELLI: And going in that direction wouldn't offend the constitution like this bill does, where we're ordering our citizens to do something. You must buy this product that we have pre-approved.
If they can do this, they can order you to buy a car. Heck, you know, I own a Chevy Equinox that - that you don't want a Chevy Equinox. And that's the kind of car they order you to buy because those are the ones that need the subsidy, you know?
ROBERTS: Wait a minute (ph). So you're saying you don't like your Equinox?
CUCCINELLI: Well, you know, it does the trick, but given my drudders I might go another direction.
This case is more - it is first about liberty and not about health care or health insurance because the same rule will apply across our society, across our economy and that would be an incredible power to give to the federal government. In fact, federalism and the distinction of power between the federal government and the states would effectively be over. Federalism would be dead at that point.
ROBERTS: Well, it's an understatement to say that this is a - a very important case and one that we'll be watching -
CUCCINELLI: True.
ROBERTS: -- closely as it makes its way through the courts.
Ken Cuccinelli, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks very much.
CUCCINELLI: Thank you for having me. You all have a great day.
ROBERTS: You too. And enjoy your Equinox.
CHETRY: Yes. You know, ringing endorsement for Chevy. (INAUDIBLE). Thank you.
Well, it is now 30 minutes past the hour. Time for this morning's top stories.
The Midwest getting battered, a monster snowstorm burying cars on roads, trapping drivers. This lake effect system hitting the Great Lakes area of Northern Indiana, Cleveland, Buffalo, and the brutal cold extending far beyond that, all the way down to Florida this morning. In some cases, there is another round of snow on the way today.
ROBERTS: While the Midwest is getting socked with snow, heavy rains have been the problem in the Pacific Northwest. A record rainfall in Seattle led to severe flooding and threats of landslides. The Army Corps of Engineers has dispatched six flood fighting teams to help state and local officials in Washington state.
CHETRY: WikiLeaks' chief Julian Assange scheduled to appear in a London courtroom today where he's expected to fight extradition to Sweden. That's where he's wanted for questioning on sex crimes charges. His attorney will also try to secure bail. Assange has spent the last week in a British prison cell.
ROBERTS: The last words -- or his last words rather were, "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." Richard Holbrooke, one of the world's most well-known and accomplished diplomat, dead at the age of 69. He was in Secretary of State Clinton's office when he collapsed on Friday. They were having a meeting. He had emergency surgery to fix a tear in his aorta. But that surgery, lengthy as it was, couldn't save him.
President Obama is calling him one of the giants of American foreign policy.
CHETRY: And Richard Holbrooke was a driving force in American diplomacy for 45 years, going all the way back to JFK and Vietnam. He was perhaps best known for being the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the Bosnian war. He also served as ambassador to the United Nations under President Clinton. And two days after taking office, President Obama turned to him to be his point man in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
And it means his passing could leave a big void in the president's war and peace strategy.
Ed Henry joins live this morning from the White House.
And the president set to meet with his Afghanistan team today. What does the Holbrooke loss mean to the White House right now?
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's huge, Kiran, as you just laid out. I mean, on paper, it doesn't seem like a big difference, because as you noted, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, the president's Af-Pak team, as they're known, will forward and continue to review the situation on the ground in Afghanistan.
And on paper, there's a year-end review that's already finished, regardless of Richard Holbrooke's sad death, and that is basically going to say, we're told by senior officials, that there's been some progress on the ground in Afghanistan, but a lot more needs to be done.
And the broad framework is already there on paper to begin pulling out U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011, with the goal of having all combat troops out by the end of 2014. All that on paper is set.
But as you suggest, there's an intangible that Richard Holbrooke brought to the table that cannot be easily replaced. This is someone who through the sheer force and will was able to help end the war in Bosnia, as you and John have been talking about 15 years ago this week. So, he brought something to the table that just goes beyond a single policy.
But it's about executing the policy that's already on the table and being able to force people on the ground, whether it's the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, whether it's President Karzai in Afghanistan who needs to be brought along on a lot of these issues. The sheer force of will that Richard Holbrooke brought to the table, they don't have that now, and it's going to be difficult to replace.
ROBERTS: He was a forceful diplomat. And no question, Henry Kissinger once said, hey, if Richard Holbrooke asks you for something, you might as well say yes because, by hook or by crook, you're going to come around to saying yes if you say no.
On another issue this morning, the president's got some good news today. The Senate had a key vote on the tax cut deal. What's going on there?
HENRY: Yes, absolutely. They went through the procedural hurdle. They got more than enough, the super majority of 60 votes, to cut off any filibuster. I mean, when was the last time you saw more than 80 votes, Democrats and Republicans coming together on any Obama initiative in the Senate? It's pretty rare and it shows that the president finally has some momentum after a pretty rough week last week.
I'm told by senior Democrats they think this could be on the House floor as early as Thursday. And so, you can see the outlines now of it coming together. And while there's still some opposition among House Democrats, especially liberals upset about the estate tax provisions, I think they're feeling here inside the White House that for the first time, they have the momentum and they can see victory in sight here, John.
CHETRY: All right. Well, thanks so much. Ed Henry this morning, good to talk to you. Coming up at 7:10 Eastern, we're going to be speaking to someone who served with Ambassador Holbrooke for the better part of the decade, former assistant secretary of state, James Rubin.
ROBERTS: It really is sad news that he died.
Halle Berry takes on a real life role to help victims of domestic violence. She talks about her work with our Alina Cho coming up next.
CHETRY: Part of our "Big Stars, Big Giving." We're going to look forward to that.
Also, in the past year, more than 13 million hours of video -- 13 million hours uploaded on YouTube. What were the clips that hit it big? Well, we have the list, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Thirty-eight minutes after the hour.
You know Halle Berry is the first African-American woman to win an Oscar for best actress. But did you also know she has been raising awareness for a problem that many women hide?
CHETRY: Our Alina Cho is here to explain that, as part of our special series, "Big Stars, Big Giving." And this is something that near and dear to Halle Berry's heart.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It most certainly is. She's very close and works with domestic violence victims. There's a reason for that. You know, even now, many women are ashamed to admit that they are victims of domestic violence, that they've been abused.
But Halle Berry wants the world to know it's OK to talk about it. And she should know. She lived with it herself and it's inspired her to give back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): It's been a personal crusade for Halle Berry for more than a decade. A secret that she's kept hidden for the early part of her life -- watching her mother being abused.
(on camera): How does that shape you as an adult?
HALLE BERRY, ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING ACTRESS: Well, you know, honestly, I think I've spent my adult life dealing with the sense of low self-esteem that that sort of implanted in me. Somehow I felt not worthy.
CHO: Do you know how many people in the world would say are you kidding me? You're Halle Berry.
BERRY: I'm sure, but -- because that's Halle Berry. But before that, I'm little Halle, who was a little girl growing in this environment that damaged me in some ways. And I've spent my adult life trying to really heal from that.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: This is amazing.
(voice-over): Part of that healing happens here at the Jenesse Center, a shelter for victims of domestic violence in Los Angeles, where she volunteers. But she often shows up unannounced.
BERRY: And I come here sometimes and I play with the kids. I see the children. So, I'm just regular old cracker.
CHO (on camera): Really?
BERRY: And I love being regular old crackers, I have to say.
CHO (voice-over): A far cry from the glamorous screen siren we know from the movies. But it is this work that Berry says is more important, more meaningful.
BERRY: Please help any way that you can.
I have a spot in my soul that understands the devastation that this causes a family and how hard it is to rebuild your self-esteem when you've suffered.
CHO: It's the reason why she's taking on a personal project, renovating these rundown apartments so women who flee their abusive partners have a safe, happy place to live.
(on camera): Very happy.
BERRY: Happy, and where they can rejuvenate and feel hugged and loved.
CHO (voice-over): And see what life can be like so they can dream of a better future.
BERRY: Well, we can turn these apartments around in two weeks.
CHO: It's something she couldn't do for her mother, give strength to women who have been beaten, battered, and broken down.
(on camera): What is your message to any woman who might be watching out there who might be in a relationship that's abusive?
BERRY: Get out. Don't stay a moment longer. If there's no shelter, go to a friend. Go to the police station, go somewhere, but go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Great advice. Now, for behind-the-scenes photos, or if you want to get involved with the Jenesse Center yourself, go to CNN.com/amFIX. For more on how you can make a difference in the world, go to CNN.com/Impact. All the interviews this year from big stars will live on "Impact Your World," our partner in this project this year. We're very excited to have a web presence -- this strong of a web presence.
But, you know, what's interesting about Halle Berry. You talked about this project that she's working on, renovating these apartments. It's very important to her because she says, you know, this is where the dream is born.
You know, if these women come -- especially out of abusive relationships, they see how they can live a clean environment, a happy environment, but, you know, you see the colors that they chose, all these beautiful colors. Then they can dream the dream for themselves. When they leave the shelter because, remember, these are temporary homes. And you can see it.
You know, I spoke to some of these women, and the boost that Halle Berry gives them is immeasurable. You know, just to see her.
And this woman shows up by herself often unannounced and she just walks in the doors, you know? And she said, I'm just regular old crackers, I'm just Hal, I'm just Halle. And I thought, really, you're just Halle. She said, yes, I am, you know?
ROBERTS: It's great to take your personal experience and turn it around like that.
CHO: It most recently is.
ROBERTS: Who are you profiling tomorrow?
CHO: Ed Norton. You know, he's doing something really different, really interesting. You know, he's long been a fundraiser for various charities, raised more than $100 million over the years. And he saw something interesting with what was interesting on the Internet with fundraising and he didn't like it.
And so, he created what he calls the Facebook of philanthropy. It's a fundraising Web platform called Crowd Rise. It has a little bit of Foursquare in it. There's a gaming aspect. It's fun. He's enlisted the help of his famous friends and we'll talk to him tomorrow about it.
CHETRY: Great, Alina. Thanks so much.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Don't miss Alina's one-hour special, by the way, "Big Stars, Big Giving." It's going to be airing on Christmas Eve, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, and on Christmas Day, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
ROBERTS: Well, still to come this morning, snow still causing headaches for the Midwest and the Great Lakes states. Jacqui Jeras has got this morning's travel forecast coming right way right after the break.
CHETRY: And it's a visual scrapbook of sort from the past year -- a look at the most popular viral videos.
Forty-three minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Smartphones could soon be standard issue for American soldiers. On the front lines, the U.S. military right now wants to have every soldier have an iPhone or an android cell phone. This would be their choice. And Uncle Sam would put the monthly bill. Officials say that smartphones would improve communication, the intelligence gathering in the war zone. They also say the goal is for soldiers to get information when they need it wherever they are.
ROBERTS: All right. We've got something really exciting to share with you this morning. It's a new way to explore the news with CNN's new app for the iPad which launches worldwide today. And yes, I happen to have -- this is very uncharacteristic of me, an iPad right in front of me.
CHETRY: That's right. And I just downloaded the app today on my own iPad, it's free, by the way. The app is free. It's also free on the iPhone. So, here it is, and we're going to show you a little bit of it. This is the front page. So, when you first log on -- when you first click on it, you're just going to see all of the different stories that you can check out. And I think it's really neat how you can see a picture in the front sort of a preview page and --
ROBERTS: The whole layout's different now. You've got these little key frames of all of these stories, and you can scroll through those. So, you get your key frame page here like that, and as well, you can go up here to a text version if you like that a little bit better which gives you the stories sort of in the headline form, as well.
CHETRY: That's pretty cool. And then, if you know you want to go straight to the video, you can click on the third way to view it, which is right here. And then, you'll be able to just see all of the video that's available and you can just scroll through it on the bottom. This is one of the stories. And it really uses the swiping technology really well. So, you can just swipe through, check out the various videos. But again, this is the new iPad app. It's also on the iPhone. It launched today, and it's free.
ROBERTS: Yes. That's one of the great things about it. It's free. And here's another thing that I really like because I grew up in radio. That was my foundation. And we give you the hourly CNN update.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN radio, I'm Andy Rose.
ROBERTS: There you go. So, you can get that, the hourly update from CNN, as well, if you like radio, and you want to hear somebody talking to you about the news as supposed to just reading it yourself.
CHETRY: Pretty cool.
ROBERTS: Which is what keeps us (ph) in business.
CHETRY: Yes. Exactly. Forty-seven minutes past the hour. Time to get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras is in the Extreme Weather Center for us this morning. Bitter cold temperatures out there, and people still trying to dig out from this storm.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, the freezing temperatures sticking around for a while, too. So, no big thaw any time soon, but the good news is that this is as bad as it's going to get. So, what you're experiencing right now is the lowest the thermometer we think is going to go, and then, it's going to gradually try and warm up a little bit, anyway, over the next couple of days.
We just broke a record, by the way. Jacksonville, Florida, had 23 degrees now this morning. That's a record for you. And a few more may be set before the day is done. You can see the frost and freeze advisories in effect that go all the way down to the beach where temperatures could reach very close to that freezing mark. And certainly, that will happen inland. You add in those brutal winds across the Midwest, Great Lakes, and the northeast. That's bringing that wind chill factor down into the single digits as well as below zero into the Midwest.
Even that, look at Atlanta, it feels like a one degree right now. So, extremely frigid conditions. High temperature staying below that freezing mark across much of the east. So, we'll see some 30s and get up into the 50s for Florida, which is well below your average for this time of the year. Now, the accumulating snow is done with the exception of those favored lake effect Snow Belt areas. We've got a little bit of snow coming down right now around New York and into the D.C. area.
That's going to make your commute just a little dicey, but this is going to be ending by the afternoon. Then, those winds coming in towards the Cleveland area to the south towns of Buffalo, that's going to stay strong over the next couple of days, but we think you're going to start to wind down a little bit in the northern parts of Indiana. The big picture then toward today looks like this, that cold air continues to pummel south.
You might be asking yourself why is this so bad? Why do we have such an express of this artic air? Well, that big low to the northeast and the big high to the west is just helping to funnel those winds all the way down into the southeast. And that's why things have been so brutal. Might want to mention too, we've got a little area of low pressure developing here, guys, which is going to take a southerly track by tomorrow, and we might see some more wintery conditions across parts of the Tennessee Valley. Back to you. Stay warm.
CHETRY: We will
ROBERTS: Jacqui Jeras for us this morning. We'll try. Thanks, Jacqui.
This morning's top stories are just minutes away now, including out of work, out of benefits, out of hope. We'll talk about what happens to a person, to their families, to the nation when they can't find work for months or even years and why there is still hope.
Also, it's the golden arches versus the golden gate. McDonald's slamming the San Francisco, telling the so-called food police to step aside and let parents do their job.
ROBERTS: And coming up next, whoa, a double rainbow all the way. Remember double rainbow guy, the YouTube sensation? Was he the star of the most viral video of 2010? Jeanne Moos runs them all down coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Seven minutes till the top of the hour. Time for the Moost News in the Morning with Jeanne. At 2010 comes to an end, we're looking at the year's top viral videos.
ROBERTS: Yes, what were they? The viral videos the ones that you probably e-mailed to people saying, whoa, did you see that double rainbow? Here's Jeanne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget cats playing patty cake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patty cake, patty cake --
MOOS: There's not a single adorable animal video in YouTube's top ten most popular videos this year. Number ten showcases extreme driving. The number nine video featured a 3-year-old heartbroken over heartthrob, Justin Bieber.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Because I love Justin Bieber.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're crying because you love Justin Bieber?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.
MOOS: So, Jimmy Kimmel invited Cody on his show and surprised her with Justin Bieber. The group, OK, go, took eight place with their Ruth Goldber like music video. Talk about the pot at the end of the rainbow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Double rainbow, oh, my God.
MOOS: Many who saw the rainbow guy video that came in six were suspicious. Whatever he was smoking, I want it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
MOOS: But the rainbow guy told Jimmy Kimmel he hadn't ingested anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. Completely sober in that video.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: One kid posted that his parents wondered if he was watching some kind of porno stuff.
Speaking of spicy, number five. It's the old spice web ad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could smell like he's me, look down, back up, where are you? You're on a boat with the man your man could smell like.
MOOS: The number four video made a fruit famous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up?
MOOS: The annoying (INAUDIBLE) dozens of sequels. The number three video made a star out of a 13-year-old singing a Lady Gaga hit.
(SINGING)
MOOS: Viewer discretion, the number two video might make you gag. Actually, we've edited out the gross parts. It's a parody of this music video by the singer, Kesha.
(SINGING)
MOOS: And the number one video, the Bed Intruder song. Antoine Dodson got famous when he appeared in a TV news report after interrupting an intruder who climbed in his sister's bedroom window. His reaction to being the global number one video?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God, it's so exciting. MOOS: From his half of the proceeds from auto-tuning the song, he bought his mom --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A whole house.
MOOS: And next, he's buying himself a Mercedes.
MOOS (on-camera): Based on the top 10 YouTubes, you might think our culture is going down the tubes.
MOOS (voice-over): Jeannie Moos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm on a horse.
MOOS: CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is this -
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And we've got 2011 to look forward to now.
CHETRY: Yes, the memories of 2010.
ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way right after a quick break. Stay with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
APOLO OHNO, OLYMPIC SPEED SKATER: I'm Apolo Anton Ohno, eight time Olympic medalist, and I spend most of my time on the road. Honestly, my favorite travel is probably driving, you know, because I can walk around. I can kind of be active. I went from essentially doing 8 to 12 hours a day of training to 20-minute workouts every day.
I got to be go little small programs, even a 12-minute workout that's total body that can really pretty much blast every single body part that I have. I feel better when I eat a little more clean, a little more healthy, more balanced. That's really what it's about. It's the things you put into your body, that's what you can get out of it. I use Twitter frequently. I'm always telling people (ph) where I'm at, where I'm going, how I'm feeling. And it's also a way for me to kind of spread inspirational messages.
Apolo Anton Ohno, and i am a road warrior.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
