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American Morning
No Setbacks, So Far; Bigger Payday Coming Soon?; Vick: Comeback Player Of The Year; Chinese Mothers Superior?; My Mom, the CEO
Aired January 13, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. Good morning to you all. Welcome to this AMERICAN MORNING for Thursday, January the 13th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot to talk about this morning. Let's get right to it.
First, a glimmer of good news told by the president last night. A lot of people were surprised to hear this. He delivered a stirring plea for unity and also revealed that Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes. In a moment, we'll take you live to the hospital where Giffords is being treated and even doctors are amazed at her recovery.
HOLMES: Also, what was supposed to be a plea for unity turned into a controversy. We're talking about Sarah Palin responding after the Tucson shooting, but she used two words in a video posted on her Facebook page that angered a lot of people. We'll tell you what she said and why so many people found it so offensive.
CHETRY: Also, get ready for a bigger payday, hopefully. After years of cuts and salary freezes, more companies planning to reward employees with better raises this year. So, how do you get one? We'll talk with Christine Romans about it.
HOLMES: But, first, we turn to that he emotional memorial service for the victims of the Arizona shooting rampage. The president, everybody was expecting his words to bring the country together, even maybe asking people to bring down the rhetoric some. But he began with something that kind of shocked everybody, breaking news of his own. Telling us just how well Congresswoman Giffords was doing, said she opened her eyes for the first time. This came as Giffords was surrounded by her husband, also close friends, as well as some colleagues.
CHETRY: Also, our last hour, we had a chance speak with two of those colleagues, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. They are both in the room. They are good friends of Congresswoman Giffords. And they described what it was like at that extraordinary moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), NEW YORK: I said to her, you know, Gabby, come on, you've got to get ready. Get better as quick as possible. We expect you in New Hampshire this summer.
And then, all of a sudden, the slits of her eyes started to open. You could see the determination that she was struggling to get them open. And then, Mark started encouraging her and telling her, "Honey, if you can -- you can see me, give me the thumb's up. Give me the thumb's up." And she didn't at first.
And then we kept talking to her. Speaker Pelosi was talking to her, talking to her about how much her colleagues care about her. And then, she opened them more and then -- stayed open a little bit. Then opened -- it was about five times that she -- she finally got them almost all the way open. It was the most amazing thing.
And, finally, when Mark said, "Honey, if you can -- if you can see me, give me the thumb's up." All of a sudden, the arm flew up in the air. She started touching him.
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), NEW YORK: Full-arm thumbs up.
SCHULTZ: It was -- it was amazing. It was incredible.
GILLIBRAND: It was amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And they're really good friends and you can tell. I mean, they're just joyful about it. Just like giddy with happiness at the fact that she made such incredible progress.
HOLMES: Such a different mood from what it's been like for so many members of Congress. This has been so tough for them. This is a colleague and friend literally.
And to see them this morning -- that was a just -- gives everybody hope. They were in the room and to see how excited they are. You could just feel it. You could feel it.
CHETRY: You're right.
Well, doctors couldn't ask for more as they monitor the congresswoman and her recovery.
Let's bring in Ted Rowlands. He is live at University Medical Center in Tucson this morning with more.
Just -- and again, to hear the amazing reaction from her two friends and colleagues about the fact that she opened her eyes, it really is just amazing.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kiran and T.J., and it started really from the beginning, the good news in terms of Congresswoman Giffords' recovery. It started on Sunday when -- even when Daniel Hernandez, you're going to talk to him in just a minute, told us that when he was helping her taking her to the ambulance she was squeezing him and could understand him. When she came out of surgery, she was following commands right away. She's gave the thumb's up the next day.
And then doctors say, you know, after what happened yesterday with her opening her eyes, it is just an incredible rate in terms of progression. They also caution that this is a long, long road and the progress that we're seeing hopefully will continue and it has been amazing. But they do caution that this is a traumatic brain injury and it is a long, long road.
HOLMES: Ted, something else here that came out that was related to the victims there at the hospital being treated, some hospital staff had to be fired. Why?
ROWLANDS: Yes, sad reality here. Obviously, this story is getting international attention, and, apparently, three hospital staff members and a nurse improperly accessed the private information of some of the patients here in the hospital that had to do with this tragedy. The hospital quickly reacted and got rid of all four of those individuals.
CHETRY: And as for the investigation, Ted, we hear the suspect Jared Loughner was spotted with a mysterious black bag before the shooting, that apparently his own father saw him perhaps removing it from one of the cars and putting it into another. What have you learned about that?
ROWLANDS: That's really the focus of the investigation right now. Investigators say that Loughner's father saw him with this bag, questioned his son of what was in the bag, they got into a little bit of an argument. Loughner's father said he got in his car and followed his son and lost him.
The FBI has not found that black bag. And that is the focus right now. They're trying to scour the city here of Tucson to find that bag, see if there's any relative evidence in it.
CHETRY: So, it was very bizarre the way it was described. That he actually asked him what he was doing and that he reportedly chased him for a while into the desert but then gave up. It just -- it sounded quite bizarre.
ROWLANDS: Yes. It does sound bizarre and investigators are obviously trying to piece together the motivations of this young man and what clues were in place beforehand. What level of cooperation they're getting from the parents is really -- we've been told they're talking -- we don't know to what detail to provide in helping set the scene of what happened in terms of premeditation. The black bag, investigators say, could go a long way in establishing that. They just haven't been able to find it yet.
CHETRY: Ted Rowlands for us this morning outside of the hospital in Tucson -- thank you.
Well, President Obama carried with him a mighty responsibility. He had to, you know, soothe the grieving nation, try to tamp down some of the nastiness in the political discourse and also remember the victims at last night's memorial service. He not only eulogized them but tried to unite a nation. Speaking before an overflowed crowd, the president said that the spirits of those lost deserve better than the bitter partisan battles that we've been seeing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: But what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Not using this as an opportunity to turn on each other. Well, we're going to take that a step further now because this is one of the best ideas that come out of Washington in a long time. A Colorado lawmaker is bringing up the idea of two political sides sitting together. Not just sitting together on a day- to-day basis, we're talking about one of the most visible time you see them separated.
This is Senator Mark Udall we're talking about. He's proposing that the Democrats and Republicans sit together at the month's State of the Union speech. You have seen this go down years and years, and it looks ridiculous quite frankly. Members of both parties are sitting on opposite sides of the House chamber during the address. The president says something that the Democrats like, they all stand up, while the other side sits down. And then something that the Republicans like, they stand up and other side sits down. It looks ridiculous most times.
All right? Here's an idea -- let's see if they take Senator Udall up on this one. It is a great idea.
CHETRY: It is going to be very different than last year's State of the Union. Remember congressman -- was it Joe, I forgot his last name.
HOLMES: Joe Wilson.
CHETRY: Joe Wilson.
HOLMES: How could you forget?
CHETRY: Screamed "You lie" in the middle of the speech and the president said that's not true. I mean, it was pretty ugly time.
HOLMES: OK. Certainly, we won't see that kind of tone.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: No, it will be a total juxtaposition if this year they actually sit together.
HOLMES: It would be great. Somebody already brought up, if it's Democrat, Republican, in the seats, then they'll still be sitting down and cheering at different times maybe. But we'll see how this goes though.
CHETRY: I, of course, had to bring that up, sorry.
HOLMES: Sorry.
CHETRY: Well, Sarah Palin sparking a lot of controversy this morning. You may have seen some snippets of the video that she posted on Facebook yesterday. Former governor of Alaska defending herself against critics who tried to connect her and her political rhetoric to the Tucson shooting rampage and two of the words she used upset lot of people and angered Jewish groups.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So, the words "blood libel," well, has connotations that date back centuries, anti-Semitic connotation. The national director of the Anti-Defamation League says that he wishes Palin had not use the words "blood libel." When Jews were persecuted and in some excuse to be killed over the centuries, the word "blood libel" used to falsely accuse them of murdering non-Jewish children and using their blood for religious rituals.
HOLMES: All right. Well, we're going to turn to the weather now here at nine minutes past the hour.
Parts of New England buried literally. Boston area right now kind of bearing the brunt of this latest blizzard we have seen in the Northeast, almost three feet of snow in some places. Massachusetts has called on 250 National Guardsmen to help dig out. Backlog at Logan International Airport, hundreds of flights cancelled there. At last count, more than 4,000 households without power across the state.
CHETRY: Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center this morning for us.
Well, with only 13 days into January, we're still talking a lot -- about a lot of snow and ice in parts of the country who aren't used to getting it, aka, Atlanta.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And like we yesterday, you got, you know, 49 of the 50 states have some sort of a snow cover. The most of which, by the way, obviously now is across parts of New England.
But they do a stellar job of clearing the roads there. And that number of 3,000 or 4,000 people without power down from over 100,000 yesterday. So, incredible work there.
And look at these incredible numbers. I mean, they got close to 20 inches close to Boston. West Gloucester got 21 inches, 38 inches in Savoy, Massachusetts, 36 in Wilmington, Vermont. So, you talk about piling it up there and piling it up in a hurry. It basically came down in about a 12- to 18-hour period. So, it was really coming down quickly.
Here's the forecast weather map for today. Wind, of course, across the Northeast. The cold air drives, continues to drive all the way down to the South and we have another pacific weather system coming in to the Pacific Northwest.
But the cold temperatures are certainly a highlight this morning: four in Kansas City, 16 in Memphis, 20 in Atlanta -- it's colder in Atlanta than it is in New York City right now. That's a problem because we got some icy roads still, and the schools are closed again today. As it's pretty treacherous getting around the Atlanta area, I can tell you. Even coming from the Northeast, it's a slick go. That's for sure.
Thirty-two degrees expected high temperature in Atlanta, which means that not a lot of melting is going to go on. Hopefully, we'll see a little bit more of sunshine, which would help, you know, sublimate some of the ice. But it's definitely cold and it's going to remain that way.
Fifteen to 20 degrees below average after a December that was below average. Yes. Kiran, you're right. This winter's off to a gangbuster start, that's for sure. We're not even halfway through it.
So, we've got spring to look forward to at some point.
CHETRY: Yes. But, meanwhile, I'm thinking about buying one of those ATV, you know, with the huge wheels and the plow on front of it. I mean, why not?
MARCIANO: Oh!
CHETRY: You should see this guy in the neighborhood. He can clear out anything.
MARCIANO: When you take that plow off, you do some doughnuts in the backyard.
CHETRY: That's right. I'll take it up the west side highway to get to work. I mean --
MARCIANO: That's going to be some video up there.
CHETRY: If sanitation is not going to be plowing, I will, you know?
HOLMES: Oh, they're on it this time.
CHETRY: That's true.
HOLMES: They're on it.
Rob, good to see you, buddy. Thank you. We'll talk to you again here shortly.
Well, this young man is quickly becoming a household name in this country for his heroic efforts in helping to save Gabrielle Giffords' life. The intern, Daniel Hernandez, will join us live coming up next.
CHETRY: Also, the best way to raise your kids? Get ready for some controversy. A new author, Amy Chua, says the Chinese style of parenting is way better than the American way and it's a fiery debate. We're jumping into it, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour. We've been telling you about the great news that the president delivered yesterday that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time since being shot in the head on Saturday. She's already taking breaths on her own. She's also responding to simple commands.
Joining us now, my pleasure to bring in once again the person, one of them whose credited with helping to keep her alive, her intern, Daniel Hernandez. He is here with us and also her communications director, C.J. Karamargin. Gentlemen, I thank you both for being here. Daniel, let me start with you. You said last night you're not a hero. The president disagreed. You ready to defer to him on this one now?
DANIEL HERNANDEZ, GIFFORDS' INTERN: I think I still have to go against what the president said and probably isn't the best idea, but I have to humbly reject the title of hero, although, the president did call me that.
HOLMES: It was a heck of a night for you. You seemed stoic. You seemed to handle the moment so well at the age of 20, but you're sitting next to the president of the United States. You're sitting next to Sandra day O'Connor on the other side of you, and everyone is in a lot of ways honoring you last night. Where was your mind as we watched your face last night during that ceremony?
HERNANDEZ: I wanted to be as far away from the rest of the crowd and the cameras as possible. I hate getting any attention which I'm sure a lot of my friends will tell you. So, not only being next to the president, you get a lot of attention, but actually having the cameras focused on me for a bit was really disconcerting.
HOLMES: I'm going to focus on you for a bit more as I bring in C.J. Karamargin here. C.J., this is humble kid. You all know him better than most of us. We're just getting the introduction, but you help me put in some perspective now what this guy means to you after knowing what he did for your boss.
C.J. KARAMARGIN, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR REP. GIFFORDS: Oh, I can't even put into words what Daniel means to the extended Giffords family. You know, T.J., I'm going to have to agree with the president here with all due respect to Daniel. He's a hero. There's no question about it. If he was not at that event on Saturday morning, things might have ended up very differently. And the fact that he was there, I think we, the nation, owes Daniel a tremendous debt of gratitude.
HERNANDEZ: Thank you.
KARAMARGIN: So, there's no doubt in my mind about that.
HOLMES: C.J, if you can, for me now, we got the great news from the president last night about her opening up her eyes, also hearing from the people who are in the room that she actually raised her arm up, as well, is there anything else this morning, any other updates about her condition or anything else she went through last night you can tell us?
KARAMARGIN: Well, the news last night was just tremendous. The congresswoman's mother told us about it just before the remarks of the president last night, and there were tears all around among the members of the staff. Gabrielle Giffords is a fighter. And what we heard, what you heard Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tell you earlier this morning, you saw the elation that the giddiness, I think, is the word you used about their response.
That's how we felt. And it's just so hopeful, it's just so positive. You know, we -- this will continue. This positive trajectory.
HOLMES: Daniel, let me kind of wrap this thing up with you here now. What is your life like? Are you going back to class? You are a student. Are you still working for the office? And also, have you been able to go back in and visit with the congresswoman?
HERNANDEZ: I have not been in to see the congresswoman because I think it's definitely something reserved for the family. They need to have their time to be with her and to make sure that they are OK and that there to support her. As myself, I haven't really been thinking about it until just a few hours ago, but I want to get back to class as soon as possible and back to the office as soon as they'll have me because I don't want to stay away.
KARAMARGIN: T.J., let me tell you. Daniel can do anything he wants in our office. There's no question about it. He can call the shots.
HOLMES: Well, you know what? We're glad he called shots on Saturday it seems because he saved the life of you all's boss there. A lot of people getting credit for it.
KARAMARGIN: Yes, he did. HOLMES: And I know, Daniel, you do not wanting to call a hero. We're so impressed with you over the past several days, and we got a chance to know you. Thank you both for being here. Please give our best to the family and to Congresswoman Giffords when you get a chance. Gentlemen, thanks so much.
HERNANDEZ: Thank you.
KARAMARGIN: Thanks so much.
CHETRY: Yes. One thing that struck me about both of them is their optimism. I mean, they're in the midst of this unspeakable tragedy. They've lost constituents, they've lost fellow staffers and just keeping the hope up. You know, and they say that's what Gabby would want.
HOLMES: You have to. To hear the encouraging words still, they're hearing from the doctors every day, but to hear a doctor actually say 101 percent chance of survival, optimistic about the recovery, ah, great news.
CHETRY: Sure is.
Well, speaking of some great news. The mystery is solved in Idaho. We now know the second mega millions winner. She's a single mom. She has two kids.
HOLMES: The details here.
CHETRY: There are some details that need to be worked out, but you know what, she's going to have a million times -- wait. I don't know how much she's going to get in the end, but no one's going to be hurting for money in Idaho. Twenty minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Good news possibly for your paycheck. This is great.
CHETRY: Like to hear this. We're all ears.
HOLMES: OK. I even got you paying attention to me this morning. That's rare. No, I'm teasing. According to a new compensation survey, 98 percent of companies say they plan to boost their employees' pay.
CHETRY: You know I hang on your every word.
HOLMES: You -- really?
CHETRY: Yes.
HOLMES: What did I say?
CHETRY: You said something about employers planning to increase pay.
HOLMES: It says you're getting a raise because 98% of them say so. I don't know if Turner Broadcasting falls into that category. But on average, company say they plan to give out about 2.8 percent pay increases, a raise there. That means the average worker will see about $38 more per paycheck after taxes.
CHETRY: Wow. Well, the rest of us will be dreaming about hitting it big, and we know the identity of the second mega millions winner. This one is from Idaho. Idaho lottery officials say 29-year- old single mom with two kids named Holly Lahti won half the jackpot. She's going to split the earnings with the couple that we interviewed from Washington State. Now, when we say single mom, she is in the middle of a divorce.
HOLMES: Doesn't the estranged husband, and I'm reading here that, apparently, he didn't know she had won until --
CHETRY: Shocked. She didn't tell her estranged husband that she won $190 million?
HOLMES: A reporter had to tell him. So, we don't know what's going to happen now.
CHETRY: This reminds me of that -- gosh. What was that movie with Nick Cage? Remember, Bridget Fonda?
HOLMES: You got me there.
CHETRY: Cop and the waitress. It's good. It was good, but, oh, "It Could Happen To You."
HOLMES: OK. That one. We'll see what happens there and see if we can get them on together at some point. Well, you remember your first car?
CHETRY: Yes.
HOLMES: What was it?
CHETRY: A Ford Tempo.
HOLMES: Ford Tempo. Mine was a 1977 Chevy --
CHETRY: 0 to 60 in 6 minutes.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: All right.
CHETRY: Spontaneously just turn off. Anyway. I miss that car.
HOLMES: John Lennon, his first set of wheels --
CHETRY: Yes, a little better than mine. HOLMES: Ferrari. 1965 Ferrari GT. It's a 2 plus coupe. You see it there. It's going to be auctioned off in Paris next week and expected to fetch more than $200,000. That sounds kind of on the low end, actually. The band Beatle bought it 46 years ago for $3,000.
CHETRY: Oh, so it did depreciate.
HOLMES: Little bit.
CHETRY: Considerably. Well, Michael Vick has been named NFL Comeback Player of the Year by Sporting News. This seems like a no brainer. Eighteen months ago, he's in Leavenworth (ph), and now, he's like winning and winning. Well, Vick led the Philadelphia Eagles to the NFC east title this season.
The quarterback reacted to the news on Twitter saying that he was, quote, "thankful for all of the people in my life that made this possible and they know who they are." Vick returned to the NFL last season after missing two years while serving a prison sentence for dog fighting. So, he still got a good chance next year.
HOLMES: Yes. He was knocked out this year of the playoffs, ended through a pick in the end zone. Not the best fashion but --
CHETRY: He had a good run.
HOLMES: He had a great season. He had a great season. Now , I want to bring you a guy that I spent a lot of time with back in my Arkansas days. Former Arkansas governor, chased him around the capital there for a while. Mike Huckabee. He's a rocker.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot of people don't know this.
HOLMES: A lot of people don't know this. If you don't, he loves -- let him show you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): He can do it, can't he? He's jamming there with the Def Leppard guitarist, Phil Collen, at a major music trade show kicks off today in Anaheim, California. He's working with the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation. It does (INAUDIBLE) musician to get music education and instruments into the hands of school kids -- excuse me -- nationwide.
CHETRY (voice-over): Wow. Good for him, rocking. Rocking with Def Leppard. Love it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (on-camera): Well, do you lie to your wife or husband about money? And if you do, do you just consider it little white lies or you want to spare them, you know, the worry? Well, you might pay for these little white lies.
HOLMES (on-camera): What do you mean? CHETRY: Christine Romans, she's going to tell us about our escalating financial infidelity.
HOLMES: Huh.
CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: OK. We're getting it.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Taking the shot. Come on. Bring us all in. Bring Christine Romans in. We are all going at it about this topic.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Love it, money, baby.
CHETRY: Financial infidelity. In a marriage, are you always honest about how you're spending and where you're spending? You know, are you keeping things from your spouse that could end up doing damage to the relationship?
ROMANS: Well, a third of Americans admit that they're unfaithful. They are unfaithful in money, in finance. A third of Americans. Now, most of this unfaithfulness, this infidelity are what we would call financial white lies. Things like you buy a new pair of shoes because you're mad at your husband about something or you lied about a purchase. Is that a new dress or new golf clubs.
CHETRY: Well, not just the woman. He went out and said, oh, this round's on me and then 14 people say, oh, really? I'll have Johnny Walker Black, and then, he doesn't show you that.
ROMANS: Exactly, exactly. Most of this is minor things and some pretty big with revenge spending. You're mad at your spouse. You turn around and buy a car. Things people do -- not kidding.
HOLMES: That's extreme.
ROMANS: That's extreme. Some things are very, very extreme.
CHETRY: But also if one wants to stick to a budget and the other one just can't seem to do it and hide the purchases. I know people that do this.
ROMANS: That's absolutely right, or to feel better about things in the marriage spend money on other things. OK, 30 percent say they've been deceived about finances, 31 percent said they lied to the spouse about finances.
Here's the impact, 67 percent of people said these, you know, financial infidelities caused an argument, no question. And 42 percent said it caused less trust in the marriage, 16 percent said led to divorce, buying a car, and 11 percent said it led to separation. I did research on my book about stuff like this and psychoanalysts talked to couples about money and their love and their -- it's amazing how the money is the symptom of other things. The way people relate to each other with money, if you are not happy in the marriage in one way and spending on the other side, that shows a real problem.
If you tell your spouse, I know you're really concerned about, you know, our debt. I paid it off and you haven't, people do that. People fix their financial problems by telling a spouse or a loved one I fixed it and they didn't, and then festers and causes the continued loss of trust.
HOLMES: You run into more problems if one spouse is handling the finances and one is ignorant to what's going on?
ROMANS: Sometimes spenders and savers are attracted to each other, and then you have problems with different frameworks of how to deal with money. Stacy Francis says have a date night every month to talk about the finances with the spouses.
HOLMES: It's a hot date.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: But to preach to the unmarried people in the world but sometimes there's a mystique surrounding when you're dating and you don't want to talk about those types of things. But you have to know straight out are you on the same page and being honest about money? Are you being honest about credit card debt? And are you honest about the kids to have?
ROMANS: Things like secret bank accounts. People -- significant -- more people than I thought, secret bank account, secret debt or making less money than they think, than you think. Or they make more money than you think and they don't want to know about it. There's so many different things, right up there with other things in the marriage.
HOLMES: Some are different than a new pair of shoes and they were on sale.
ROMANS: That's the gateway drug.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: All right. Christine, thank you.
HOLMES: Great stuff.
All right, also coming our way this half hour, some of the stories to keep you up on top of. The governor of Massachusetts calling out the National Guard after a blizzard dropped up to three feet of snow on parts of the state. A lot of flights as you can imagine in and out of Boston Logan's International Airport canceled and thousands of people right now without power, as well. CHETRY: Also, the water is starting to recede on Australia's east coast, but the damage will linger for months if not years some say. More than 20,000 homes flooded in Brisbane, some right up to the roof tops. And 15 people died and dozens of others still missing. These search and rescue operations continue this morning.
HOLMES: Also, last night the president delivering an emotionally charged address to a grieving nation. He was speaking at the University of Arizona last night remembering the victims of that shooting on Saturday. He challenged the nation to come together. We were expecting those words from the president.
But we weren't expecting what he told us at the very beginning of his speech about Congresswoman Giffords' recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we left her room and some of her colleagues were from Congress were in the room, Gabby opened her eyes for the first time. Gabby opened her eyes for the first time.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is live at the White House. It was certainly a powerful speech by the president last night. There were many things he seemed to need to accomplish trying to help people cope with the loss but at the same time call for a new day when it comes to political discourse.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran, a very difficult challenge for any president to step in the wake of such a tragedy. We have seen other presidents do that, Ronald Reagan after the Challenger disaster, Bill Clinton after Oklahoma City and George W. Bush after 9/11. Very different tragedies, all kinds of tragedies, but for this one, unique challenge and it really appeared that this president rose to the occasion.
We have seen him do this before, including like the race speech in 2008 campaign where he transcended the politics of that particular moment and elevate the conversation. Maybe he was able to accomplish some of that last night.
We have seen Sarah Palin go back and forth with liberals in the last couple of days about who is to blame and whether some of the heated rhetoric on either side contributed to this kind of violence. The president sending a signal to both sides, his own supporters, but also the other side -- look, stop the blame game, he said. It's time to come together. We can't stop the actions of some deranged individual but we can change how we talk and treat one another. It seemed to sort of capture what Americans were looking for from this commander in chief, Kiran and T.J. HOLMES: Seems like some are listening and wants to take the president up on the offer and an idea to do something at the State of the Union when you said earlier and I reiterated to look ridiculous sometimes.
HENRY: Sure. Well, because, naturally what happens is a president up there and his party will stand up and cheer. The other side sits on the hands. Sometimes boo and go back and forth depending on the issue.
Mark Udall, the Democrat of Colorado is now saying let's have lawmakers sit together for the state of the union for the first time. And really show that they are ready to put some of this nasty rhetoric aside.
It's obviously an interesting idea. It was first proposed by third way, the centrist Democratic group that tries to bring both sides together. We'll see. It is getting some positive reaction so far.
But as I noted earlier, I heard some of this after 9/11 and both parties sang "God bless America" on the steps of the capitol and won't get into the nasty rhetoric anymore, but then they went to the separate corners shortly thereafter.
Here's an opportunity, the president seized it last night. We'll see if both parties on the hill and the president himself delivering the state of the union at the end of the month beyond sitting together, whether or not they can actually put some action behind this talk, T.J., Kiran.
HOLMES: Hold them to it in D.C., Ed. Hold them to it. Good to see you as always.
CHETRY: It's 37 minutes past the hour. The book set off a fiery debate. It was an article excerpted from her book in "The Wall Street Journal." It basically says Chinese mothers are superior to western moms. They have it figured out. We're going to talk to Yale professor and author Amy Chua as she joins us live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 40 minutes past the hour. Our next guest's article is raising a little bit of controversy. When it comes to raising successful kids, Chinese mothers have it right. Amy Chua is raising her children the way that she was raised in a strict Chinese household. And she has written about her somewhat extreme parenting methods in her new book.
Here's an excerpt. "Here are some things that my daughters Sophia and Louisa were never allowed to do -- attend a sleepover, have a play-date, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than "A" and play any instrument other than the piano or violin."
The book has people talking and generating controversy. It's called "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" and author Amy Chua joins us now. I had to laugh because some of this resonated. My dad is from Nepal. When you're a child or product of the Asian culture and this is general, but there's a greater emphasis on listening to your parents and to studying.
AMY CHUA, AUTHOR, "BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER": Right.
CHETRY: Also to just measuring up to their expectations of you, not what you want.
CHUA: Right. Right.
CHETRY: How did you find as you wrote this book, how did you weave that into the way you raised your girls?
CHUA: One thing that -- if there's anything I regret about the piece that's causing controversy is that it doesn't convey that the book is not how to guide. It is making fun of myself, and the person at the beginning of the book is very different than the person at the end of the book because it's really about my own transformation.
And in fact about two thirds of the way through the book there's a whole swerve where I suddenly my younger daughter who was 13 rebels against the strict parenting and I was -- it was traumatic. I was confronted with this choice and in the end, I thought I have to pull back. You know? Nothing's more important than my daughter. I won't lose her.
CHETRY: Some ways it was a growing pains for you, as well. But let's talk first of all about those ideas and, you know, of course some people take issue with the fact it said Chinese, but you're writing what you know because that's how your parents raised you.
CHUA: I say early on in the book using a term loosely. I'm not speaking for al Chinese parents and more of an immigrant thing. You were saying I know a lot of Jamaican, Korean or Indian parents who have similar mind-sets and others that didn't use this because they didn't like it applied to them.
CHETRY: We are losing this growing up in America and western influences. My dad always said that learning is a privilege and going to school is a privilege.
CHUA: Right.
CHETRY: He sort of carried that ethic with him. And he did impose that on me. I laughed in the book talking about all "A's" and a "B" an American parent says congratulations. A Chinese parent says why did you get that? That's not acceptable.
CHUA: Did that happen to you?
CHETRY: Of course!
CHUA: You have to put it in the family context. Every family's different. If you say that in some families it could be really horrible and harsh and undermining. But I grew up with extremely strict and extremely loving Chinese parents, immigrant parents.
And for me, I mean, as a grown-up looking back, their having high expectations for me coupled with love was the greatest gift to give me, which is why I tried to do it with my two daughters and with my first it was smooth and then my second, we're very similar. She's a fireball. We have hot tempers. We locked horns from day one. And again at 13 she really rebelled. We began having terrible fights, a very dark period in my life. I really began questioning everything I'd ever done. And that's actually why I wrote the book.
CHETRY: So in a nutshell, what can western parents learn, though, about those high expectations and the emphasis on studying that you talk about?
CHUA: Yes, I think that there are strengths and weaknesses to both the Asian and the western models. They're almost mirror images of each other. There are real strengths, though. There's a question we're all confronting where does true self esteem come from?
You know, I'm a little surprised. I -- I -- it's almost like the idea of striving for excellence is -- is a bad word. You know?
(CROSS TALK)
CHETRY: Right, because it puts too much pressure on the kids.
CHUA: You know and -- and that's true. By the way I agree with that. If there's too much pressure, you get to the point where people are cracking and they are miserable, you've got to pull back. That's -- that's the point in my book in a way, you know.
I retreated. But short of that, if there's love -- I mean, for many, many people having high expectations, learning that you could do something, that you thought you couldn't, I mean, that's a great feeling.
Once you have that experience in the future you think, wait a second. I -- I -- I once thought I couldn't do something and then through hard work and not giving up, I -- I learned I could do it. So, you know, this is a good lesson.
And also, not making excuses, I find it interesting that these are called "Chinese values". You know hard work and don't give up and don't make excuses. Take responsibility. Be self reliant I mean, the way I was taught because I think of those as really fundamental American values.
So in some ways I think the book is really sort of where should we go? Maybe we need some sort of hybrid, some sort of balance between, you know, what I see as maybe we're -- we've moved to a slightly overly permissive, overly coddling western model somewhere between that and the other extreme which is this overly strict, you know, it's got to be the violin or piano model. We try -- I definitely moved away from myself because I thought happiness for my child, you know, having the family stay together is the most important thing, ultimately for all of us.
(CROSS TALK)
CHETRY: So it does -- it does make you think and you're right the -- the title of your book is actually "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" it's not Chinese moms are superior. But it did get the attention of a lot of people and it did get forwarded around.
Amy Chua thanks so much for joining us this morning.
CHUA: Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: Sure -- T.J.
HOLMES: Did I hear her right? She's talking about my mama this morning. Amy is talking about my mama. What are you saying about my mama this morning, Amy? I'm just teasing, Amy. It is ok.
Stay with us, folks. And mom, you were great. All right? I love you.
When is this stuff going to thaw out? We're going to turn back to some weather here. The south still having some problems because the temperature won't rise enough to melt a lot of that stuff. You're going to get the absolute latest update on where all this stuff is still causing problems.
Stick around with us. Forty-six minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Good day, Charlotte. I hope you're doing all right this morning. It's pretty gorgeous morning. It's a little chilly there in downtown Charlotte right now, 24 degrees, but it's going to warm up quite a bit to 38 degrees.
We could take 38 in Atlanta right now. Still looking for temperatures to go above that freezing to get a lot of that stuff off the road; still a problem down there with ice.
CHETRY: Yes. Especially when it's hard to get around with that, especially you're not used to it.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: Our Rob Marciano has a look at the weather for us right now. What we can expect and you're also following another storm in the west, too.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Pretty big storm across the Pacific Northwest; they've been getting pounded, as well, although less the way of snow and more in the way of rain. The snows are ending across the northeast for the most parts. After three feet fell in really a span of about 18 hours so tremendous snow rates across Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut where even in -- in parts of the western central Connecticut almost three feet of snow there.
All right. As far as the winds are concerned, we've got some across the I-95 Corridor, that will slow some down some travel also, some lake-effect snows and some snows is getting all the way down to the central Appalachians where we've got winter storm warnings still posted. It could see on the western slopes six, ten, maybe 12 inches of snow.
Still a little bit of snow across parts of Atlanta; 19 degrees currently, so it is not melting all that quickly and we expect temperatures today once again to be well below the freezing mark and ten to 15 to 20 degrees below average across the southeastern third of the country.
Meanwhile, 2010 was the warmest globally on the record as far as land temperatures are concerned and 2010 for the U.S. was the 23rd warmest on record. Southeast was on the chilly side, northeast was on the warm side. Don't tell that to these monkeys in Central Park.
Roll that beautiful snow monkey footage. Yes. They're enjoying the snow there. These guys are from Japan. Of course they're in Central Park now but digging the snow. In Japan when it gets cold, they typically hang out in you're -- you know some place where it's steaming and a little bit warmer but in Central Park they just kind of scurried to the sunshine. And -- yes, do -- do what monkeys do I guess when it comes to snow.
I didn't see any snow angels and they didn't throw anything. So they weren't bad monkeys. They certainly --
(CROSS TALK)
CHETRY: No I love it that he's like licking his leg, you know the ice off of his leg. He's got a built-in popsicle right there. I love it.
MARCIANO: There you go.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: They're so cute.
MARCIANO: They are cute.
CHETRY: But you think you want them as a pet but you don't. It's like having a two year old forever.
MARCIANO: Yes if they -- and if they behave naughtily, you know, it could be bad.
CHETRY: Why? What -- what would you do? MARCIANO: I'm not going there.
CHETRY: Yes.
MARCIANO: It's good to see you guys.
CHETRY: You too.
HOLMES: See you tomorrow.
MARCIANO: See you tomorrow.
HOLMES: Monkeys in Central Park.
CHETRY: Crazy.
HOLMES: I have a lot to learn about New York.
CHETRY: There's a zoo in Central Park.
HOLMES: I have a lot to learn.
(CROSS TALK)
CHETRY: There's penguins in there, too, right?
HOLMES: There is?
CHETRY: I'll show you sometime, yes; a bunch of them.
Well, we've come a long way, baby. But did you know that very few women are actually in charge at Fortune 500 companies.
HOLMES: All right.
CHETRY: Up next, we're sitting down with the head of Sonesta Hotels. That's right, she's a wife, she is a mother and she's a CEO. So how did she make it work? And what's her advice to other young women out there? We're going to hear it coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right.
Women, no doubt, real force in the American workplace and thank goodness they are but still, just a fraction are at the very top of the corporate food chain; just 12 are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. We've got to do better.
CHETRY: Yes, that's the very top.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: And -- and the interesting thing, though, is that 11 out of those 12 are also moms so is it proof that women don't have to choose between a career and family? We're going to meet one woman who did make that happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE SONNABEND, CEO, SONESTA INTERNATIONAL HOTELS: I think women need to be more strategic about how they plan their careers. Where do they want to get to? What is it going to take to get there?
CHETRY: And she should know. As CEO of Sonesta Hotels, Stephanie Sonnabend heads a $60-million-a-year business.
SONNABEND: Good morning, matt.
CHETRY: With 3,000 employees worldwide. But she's also a wife and a mother of two kids, a rarity in the boardroom.
Did you ever think that your leadership skills were in doubt because of your gender?
SONNABEND: Early on for some people in the company, yes because they did not have -- had seen a woman in that position.
CHETRY: So that was something that took some getting used to?
SONNABEND: Yes, yes. It did. Again when I started there, there were very few women. There was one other senior woman in an executive position and everyone else was men.
CHETRY: Even her own father who was president of family-owned business couldn't picture his own daughter sitting at his desk one day.
SONNABEND: I told him I was ambitious and did want to rise to the top of leadership.
CHETRY: Did he say to you, one day, I hope you're the CEO or you will be or was it just you come in and work your way up like everybody else and we'll see what happens?
SONNABEND: He said, what do you want to do and how do you want to carve your career in the business? And, again, he was of a generation that didn't really think of necessarily women having a career and becoming a CEO.
CHETRY: Only 14 percent of top executives are women. A number Sonnabend says needs to change because women bring something missing on executive row.
SONNABEND: It's really about diversity of thought. Men and women think differently. Women tend to think about how will that decision impact the employees, the community, the environment? Not just the bottom line.
Good morning, Stephanie Sonnabend.
CHETRY: But Sonnabend admits that she couldn't have it all, career and children, without help. Her husband Greg gave up his career as an opera singer.
GREG CICCOLO, HUSBAND OF STEPHANIE SONNABEND: Are there's some regrets? Maybe a little, every once in a while. Would I have loved to continue on singing throughout Europe and having what was an exciting life? Sure. But I had it.
CHETRY: Still says Sonnabend even with struggles between family life and life as a CEO she never hesitated in reaching for both.
SONNABEND: I really felt that that was never a problem for me. Now, again, part of that may be being in a family business but it's easily -- I shouldn't say that. It's not easily done but it is very doable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Not easily done. I think most people would agree. But Sonnabend also founded this organization last year called 20-20 Women on Boards. And the goal: she wants to boost the percentage of women serving on corporate boards. Right now it's 11 percent and the goal is to get it up to 20 percent by 2020.
And her own daughter, Antonio, also jumped on board. She's actually with the organization; the Web site's 2020wob.com. But they're very passionate about it. She feels that, you know, it's the responsibility for women who have already succeeded to try to help bring, you know, other women along as well.
HOLMES: That's always the point. I love when people actually get that. So great stuff there. Congratulations to her. We'll keep an eye on it.
It's just a couple of minutes to the top of the hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: That's it for us here on this AMERICAN MORNING. We appreciate you being with us today.
CHETRY: Yes. We'll see you back here bright and early tomorrow. Meanwhile the news continues right now; "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips. Good morning Kyra.
