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State of the Economy; Interview With Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss; President Obama's Promise of Afghanistan; How We Make Decisions; The Man Who Scares Democrats; The Help Desk; Checking The Truth-O-Meter

Aired January 24, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

I want to get you up to speed.

It could be his biggest speech of the re-election campaign. President Obama going before the nation tonight to tell us how things are going and what he wants to do to make them better.

The economy, of course, is going to be the main focus of the president's State of the Union Address. Sources say he's going to lay out a blueprint for the economy. He's expected to focus on income equality, the debt, taxes, as well as jobs.

Our special live coverage beginning at 8:00 Eastern.

And even before the president delivers his speech, Mitt Romney knocking it down. The presidential candidate delivered what he calls a prebuttal earlier in Tampa, slamming President Obama's economic record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, President Obama has amassed an actual record of debt, decline and disappointment. This president's agenda made these troubled times last longer. He and his allies made it harder for the economy to recover. Instead of solving the housing crisis and getting Americans back to work, President Obama has been building a European-style welfare state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: After getting grilled by his rivals, Mitt Romney finally released his tax returns today, and we knew he was wealthy, but in the last two years Romney made more than $42 million. His tax rate was just under 14 percent. He gave more to charity than he did to the IRS, much of it going to the Mormon Church.

We're going to have a deeper look at his tax returns later in the hour.

And the Republican candidates are facing of for one more debate ahead of next Tuesday's Florida primary. Their latest match-up was in Tampa. That was last night. Newt Gingrich took a swipe at Mitt Romney over his tax returns. Romney fired back. Here's a taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm prepared to describe my 15 percent flat tax as the Mitt Romney flat tax. I'd like to bring everybody else down to Mitt's rate, not to bring him up to some other rate.

ROMNEY: And Mr. Speaker, is the tax on capital gains also 15 percent or is it zero?

GINGRICH: Zero.

ROMNEY: Well, under that plan, I'd have paid no taxes in the last two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: You don't want to miss CNN's America Choice Debate. That is Thursday, 8:00 p.m., live from Jacksonville, Florida.

In about an hour, fans of Joe Paterno will get a chance to pay their respects at a public viewing at Penn State. The university's former football coach passed away on Sunday, less than three months after his 61-year career came to an abrupt end. The board fired him after his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was charged in a child sex abuse scandal.

His daughter Mary Kay is defending his legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY KAY PATERNO, DAUGHTER OF JOE PATERNO: My father lived a full life. He lived his life -- he was -- what you saw was what you got with my dad. He was honest, he had integrity. He was committed to doing the right thing. And there was no question in any of our minds or his that he always did the right thing, even if it wasn't easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Alabama's governor is touring the damage left behind after a powerful tornado hit his state early Monday morning. At least two people were killed, 211 homes destroyed in Jefferson County.

Let's take a look at those pictures. Unbelievable.

The search continues now for more victims. The tornado hit lows to where the worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history hit last April which killed more than 240 people.

All right. Tonight, President Obama carrying on a tradition that dates back to George Washington, the president of the United States giving his assessment of the state of the union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALD FORD, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The state of the union is not good.

JAMES CARTER, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- that the state of our union is sound.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The state of the union is strong.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The state of our union has never been stronger.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the state of our union is strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Want to take a look at the economics, the politics of tonight's speech.

Christine Romans, she is going to examine the state of the economy. Brianna Keilar, she's going to give us the political angle.

I want to start off with Christine.

We are now recovering from the Great Recession. Where do we stand now in terms of jobs and investments? What's the state of the economy?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the state of your economy, right, is what's going to be so important to people as they head into the voting booths, and the president knows that more than anyone.

Look, things are recovering. That's a very good way to look at it.

If you look at your investments, your investment in the stock market is near a six-month high here, right back up to where it was basically last April. And when you take a look at something like the jobs market, which is probably more important to more people than their investments -- the job is the engine of your personal economy -- you know, initial jobs claims just last week were the lowest in three years. We know 1.6 million jobs were created last year, Suzanne.

So, it so shows you that the mass job losses that began at the beginning of the president's -- or were that under way in the beginning of the president's tenure, they have slowed. And, in fact, the economy is slowly, slowly creating jobs. So that's where we are on those two important parts of the state of people's finances on their personal investments and their job.

MALVEAUX: And Christine, what about the state of housing? How are we doing?

ROMANS: And that's probably your biggest investment and your biggest debt, right? Well, a lot of folks have said that things look like they're bottoming out in the housing market, too.

We've heard that before, but we know that the number of foreclosures slowed a little bit last year. That's important, partly because the banks have had to slow down so much.

We know that home sales increased last year a little bit by 1.7 percent, so people are starting to sell homes again. But we also know that that doesn't mean the price of your house is going up. In fact, median home sales fell at the end of last year, down, you know, about 2.5 percent, and there are forecasts that are all over the map for this year, home prices either being steady or maybe even falling a little bit. One analyst has it all the way down, falling another 7 percent.

I will say, home prices are better in Washington, D.C., and they're better in places like San Francisco. So there are some parts of the market that are starting to recover.

MALVEAUX: And overall economy, state of the overall economy? Big picture?

ROMANS: Well, we're likely to see that by the last quarter of last year, things got a little bit better. Now, remember, in the summer, Suzanne, we were talking about concerns about a double-dip recession. This economy avoided a double-dip recession, and in fact may have been growing by some estimates as much as 3 percent by the end of last year.

So that shows you, again, this slow, steady recovery. But there are plenty of statistics and economic numbers that both sides will be using to try to prove their case.

The president, you're better off today than you were a year ago. And the Republicans, that you're worse off today than you were four years ago. And that's going to be the crux of what you're going to be hearing on the campaign trail and in the State of the Union.

MALVEAUX: All right.

Christine Romans.

Thank you, Christine. We'll all be walking.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

MALVEAUX: I want to talk about the politics of tonight's speech. Brianna Keilar, live from the White House.

So, this is the last State of the Union speech before the election here. What are the kinds of things that the president is going to need to say to win over the Independent voters or even maybe people who are on the fence now, undecided?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, one of the big things that he's going to be pressing, Suzanne, is this idea of fairness. And we've heard him talk about this now for months, the idea that Americans should have a fair shot, a chance to be in the middle class, and basically pursue the American dream, and his vision that the government can serve a role in that. And also, that Americans should pay their fair share.

This is key. This is something that has polled very well. Democrats feel like they have sort of a winning strategy in this.

Expect President Obama to push for the expiration of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and also to be pushing for tax reform, done in a way so that wealthier Americans pay more. That sort of goes to his idea of paying the fair share. That is something he's trying to target, not only his Democratic base, but also Independents.

And also, expect him to kind of lay out a vision of what he wants in the future. I mentioned sort of the role of what government should be.

MALVEAUX: Right.

KEILAR: The big liability, Suzanne, as you know, for this White House here, nine months out from the election, is the unemployment number. And so he's kind of trying to make his case for some of the things he's done, trying to claim some credit for some of the modest improvements in the economy, but making that case that there's more to be done -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And real quick here, Brianna, already, before the State of the Union has even been delivered, we're hearing from powerful Republicans who are criticizing the president. What's the bottom line of their criticism?

KEILAR: Yes, he's being hammered as being political, even ahead of this speech, which, of course, we haven't heard, but we know some of the things about it. Of course, Suzanne, it's a political speech. Right? There's an element of that to it. It's an election year.

But you really only have to look at some of the places that he'll be visiting here in the coming days, very strategically important -- Iowa, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and Michigan, to really know that. But he will also be putting out some policy ideas, although a lot of them, of course, Republicans are not on board with -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, ,Brianna. We'll all be watching. It's a strange thing to watch sometimes when you see Republicans sitting, Democrats standing, and it goes back and forth depending on what the president has to say there. And we'll see how it plays this evening and into the campaign.

Thanks, Brianna. Appreciate it.

So here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. It's what we've been talking about.

President Obama's speaking to the nation tonight, the annual State of the Union Address. He's expected to discuss some big issues facing us, right? We're talking about jobs, the economy, the debt. What would you like to hear from him tonight? That is today's "Talk Back" question.

Carol Costello is in D.C. with more.

And Carol, I mean, people are going to be watching tonight. They want to know, what's the state of the union? People are struggling.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are.

Tonight, there will be millions of middle-class Americans struggling to find hope in our state of the union like Michael and Moira Binder. They represent what middle-class Americans fear the most, that they'll sink farther under water on a bad mortgage, or lose their jobs, that they'll fall out of the middle class. All of that has happened to the Binders, who now find themselves in an economic place they can't fathom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOIRA BINDER, STRUGGLING MIDDLE CLASS AMERICAN: There's not a lot of hope for me right now of, you know, somebody's going to fix this. It feels like, you know, we've got to, you know, buckle down and do everything ourselves and, you know, not expect anybody else to figure it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: See, they don't care about allegations President Obama is a socialist or that Mitt Romney is richer than God or that Newt Gingrich may or may not be an influence peddler. No. They want help, and they want specifics.

So, when Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn says he'll skip the president's speech because he's heard it all before, and House Speaker John Boehner calls the speech pathetic before he's even heard it, many middle-class Americans will wonder if anyone gets it. The same holds true if the president transforms the State of the Union into a campaign speech, or uses lofty political rhetoric to tout an economy that's getting better, but at a glacial pace.

So, our "Talk Back" question today, what do you want to hear in Obama's State of the Union?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Carol.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It's a rare time when the parties and the president come together in an evening, but we don't necessarily expect them to all get along.

Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, he's joining us now from Washington to talk about tonight's State of the Union Address.

Senator, very nice to see you. Glad you could join us here.

SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: We're going to see all of you guys together in the chamber. It's a formal occasion. The president's going to lay out the state of the union here.

People look at this year and they look beyond this election, and they still see Washington gridlock. They say, 'why can't Congress get more done?'

How do you plan to personally try to break through some of that and actually work with those across the aisle to move legislation forward?

CHAMBLISS: Well, first of all, Suzanne, you've got to have leadership coming from the top. And frankly, there's been a void in basically every area out there. And I hope tonight that the president says, look, we're in a tough election year, but there's still major things that we need to accomplish that are important to the American people and important to our country.

And if he will take the initiative, I think it will help. Otherwise, there's a continuous process here in the Senate of trying to work on both sides of the aisle.

People are reaching across. Senator Warner and I worked very closely on the debt and the deficit issue. We're going to continue that work.

Our base is very broad out there from a bipartisan standpoint, from a war on terror standpoint. Senator Feinstein and I -- I'm the vice chairman of the Intel Committee, she's the chairman -- we see eye to eye on almost every issue. And when we have differences, we're able to really work them out for the most part.

So those types of things have worked very well, from my perspective, and I look forward to continuing to work with both Republicans and Democrats and with the White House if they will engage.

MALVEAUX: Senator, I mean, I guess both sides want to do that, but listening to you now, it would sound like everything is working well in Washington. And so many people in this country really believe that members of Congress are not doing their jobs. You have one of the lowest percentage of approval rates in a long, long time.

Is there something that you can point to specifically that you think your party could do a better job of reaching out to Democrats?

CHAMBLISS: Well, I don't know that I can say that there is one specific area that Republicans are somewhat dilatory in when it comes to trying to work things out. You know, there are any number of issues, reaching from energy to housing to the war on terror, where we have seen cooperation to a certain extent.

The problem is -- and the American people are justified, frankly, in their opinion about the gridlock in Washington right now, because at the end of the day, what is the result? And the result has been, we simply haven't accomplished a whole lot.

I mean, gee whiz, we could not even get the extension of the unemployment and the payroll tax with the Keystone pipeline in it at the end of the year for 12 months. We could only get it extended for two months. There's something wrong in this town, and we've got to keep working at it until we get it right.

MALVEAUX: And how do you do that? Because Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, she's going to be there tonight, and it was that terrible attack against her when she was shot in the head. She's going to be at the State of the Union. This is really the last act, if you will, before she resigns to focus on her recovery there.

But you guys made a pledge to work together, to put some of this ugliness behind after that tragedy. Why hasn't the tone changed in Washington?

CHAMBLISS: Well, it has changed somewhat, but you have to understand, too, Suzanne, that these are not black and white issues. These are very complex issues.

These are issues that require not only a lot of debate, but a lot of thought going into it to make sure that we do it right. And whether it's cybersecurity, which we're working on now -- and frankly, we're working on in a bipartisan way, and a bicameral way -- we're engaging with the House on this issue, and that is a critical issue. And I expect the president to give some detail on that issue tonight.

MALVEAUX: All right. And Senator, I have to ask you before you go, do you have a date tonight as well? I know they're paring Democrats and Republicans together, to sit together. Do you have somebody that you're sitting with?

CHAMBLISS: I'll be honest with you, Suzanne, I've been in a classified hearing all morning. I just got back into town this morning, and I frankly haven't given that much thought, but enjoyed sitting with Senator Warner last year. And who knows where I'll be tonight? We'll be there.

MALVEAUX: All right. You let us know if you find a date, a Democratic date.

CHAMBLISS: OK.

MALVEAUX: We appreciate it. All right. Thanks again, Senator.

As President Obama prepares for tonight's State of the Union Address, we are looking at some of the pledges that he made during last year's address. Has he kept his word on troops in Afghanistan, for instance?

Our Tom Foreman takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With so much attention on Afghanistan for so many years now, the president certainly had some things to say about that.

OBAMA: This year we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an Afghan leader, and this July we will begin to bring our troops home.

FOREMAN: Some troops have started coming home, true. So, if you only focus on that narrow part, you have to give the president credit. But there is a bigger picture that many critics insist must be considered.

Right before Barack Obama took office, there were 32,500 American troops in Afghanistan. However, he approved two troop surges which doubled our military presence there. So, by the time we vote for president again this fall, just under 70,000 will still be in Afghanistan. For that reason, we have to call his pledge a work in progress.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Tonight, CNN's special coverage of President Obama's State of the Union Address begins at 8:00 Eastern, live from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

MALVEAUX: After being grilled by his opponents, Mitt Romney finally releasing his tax returns, more than 500 pages. We're going to tell you what it means for the campaign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, he made more than $42 million over the last two years, but it's not Mitt Romney's earnings that have people talking, it's how little he pays in taxes.

Journalism tax expert David Cay Johnston, he's joining to us break down the numbers here.

Explain to us, first of all, how it works. You have the Romneys here, income more than $21 million. How is it that his tax rate is just 13.9 percent?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, TAX EXPERT: Because Congress taxes the Romneys and a narrow class of other people differently than everyone else. Most of Romney's money comes from something called carried interest. It's a share of the profits from successful investments.

And even though his money was not at risk, the client's money was. Mr. Romney gets the benefit of the 15 percent tax rate. And as a result, the Romneys, on their $21 million of income, paid the same tax rate as a single worker making about $54,000.

MALVEAUX: Explain to us also about this idea of the gift and the fact that some of these funds were transferred to his sons.

JOHNSTON: Well, if you wanted to give $100 million to your children, assuming you had it, normally you would have to pay a gift tax of about $30 million. The Romneys paid no gift tax.

That's because the carried interest is considered by Congress to be a profits interest, that is a share of the profits, and not ownership, so when you give it away, you can value it at zero even though you're giving your children something with enormous value, because profits are going to employee into it.

The tax return for 2010 shows two gifts that went into one of the Romney trusts. They were both valued at zero. You and I can't do that, but Congress lets managers of private equity and hedge funds do this.

And it's indicative of how America has two tax systems, separate and unequal, one for most of us, and then one for people like Mitt Romney who is in the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent.

MALVEAUX: Let's just be clear here. Romney and his campaign, when they put out these numbers and these figures, they say, we've done nothing wrong here. We're a successful family. We make a lot of money. We give a lot to charity, but they haven't broken the law or done anything that would be considered incorrect, is that right?

JOHNSTON: Suzanne, that's exactly right. The Romneys have done everything as best I can tell that is perfectly proper. There's a scandal here, but it's not the Romney's, it's Congress. And by the way, under Newt Gingrich's plan, the Romney's would pay virtually no tax.

Under Mr. Romney's plan, his tax would drop dramatically, because under his tax plan, the roughly one in 500 americans that makes over $1 million a year would get 28 percent of all the tax cuts that Mr. Romney is proposing.

MALVEAUX: And real quickly here, he has not released his tax returns from 1982 to 1999, the time he was head of Bain Capital. So is this a complete picture of what Romney pays, how he does business, without those figures?

JOHNSTON: No. You know, his father released 12 years of returns, President Bush released his returns for every year he had significant income. So did Barack Obama and many others. And we need to see the '84 to '99 returns.

And I think he should certainly meet the standard his own father set in 1968, which was before we knew that Richard Nixon was involved in filing criminally fraudulent tax returns.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you very much for breaking it down for us. Appreciate it.

Well, you've seen the polls, the political ads, and more than a dozen debates, but when Election Day finally rolls around, do you vote with your head or your heart? A world-famous psychologist who's going to join us live to explain the critical difference.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are rolling out a new segment today. We call it "Bookmarks." It is the big ideas from the best sellers and it's driving the national conversation.

So here's a question. When you have to make a decision, do you go with your gut or do you like to think things over first? Well, the answer, that answer says a lot about you and it says a lot about the way American voters choose their presidents.

So recently I spoke with Daniel Kahneman from Princeton University. He's a world famous psychologist and Nobel Prize winner and he's been studying the science of decision making for decades.

His latest book, "Thinking Fast And Slow" riding high on "The New York Times" best seller list right now, and it explains how we all use these very different styles of thinking every day, especially when it comes to politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Doctor, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, you outline two deferent ways that people make decisions. You call them system one and system two. Tell us how they work.

DANIEL KAHNEMAN, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Well, you know, they are two different ways of thinking and we're all familiar with it. If I say two plus two, the thought four comes to your mind without you having to do anything.

It just happens to you. But if I ask you to do 17 times 24, you're going to have to work at it. So some thoughts come by themselves, that's system one. Some thoughts you've got the work for and that's system two.

MALVEAUX: Having covered the White House for nearly 10 years, I got a chance to see very different styles of leadership and decision making. So President Bush, he prided himself on being a gut guy, going with his gut, and he really derided this notion of self-reflection.

He even called it navel gazing. President Obama on the other hand prides himself on being very deliberative and has this style of being professorial. How do these types of decision making affect a world leader?

KAHNEMAN: Well, there's no question that you couldn't find a better example of a system one decider than George Bush and a more extreme example of a system two decider than President Obama.

Interestingly enough, the public likes deciders, likes decision makers to make their choices quickly. And somebody was very deliberate appears to be less decisive. This is clearly costing President Obama something, in terms of how his divisiveness is judged.

Because people go by the speed with which decisions are reached. This is, by and large, likely to be wrong, but that's the way that system one works. We want people to follow their intuitions.

MALVEAUX: Give us an example. Are there characteristics, physical characteristics that you can point to that help people form opinions about what they believe that a person is like?

KAHNEMAN: We go a lot by appearance. We tend to get an impression of strength from the general shape of the face. Square shapes go one way and round faces go the other way.

Strong is square, round is weaker. Something about the eyes is quite important, the distance between the eyes. We pick up a great deal from the shape of the face. This affects voting. It actually, the appearance predicts the results of elections.

MALVEAUX: You look at the candidates here, and you couldn't have more square-jawed candidate than Mitt Romney, if he went up against another square-jawed individual, President Obama.

KAHNEMAN: Central casting couldn't do much better in terms of the looks of the candidates.

MALVEAUX: Do you think that people are looking for this already? That they can already determine from the candidates that they see, that they've already started to form late some of those assumptions and opinions?

KAHNEMAN: Well, you know, from the research that we know, they started within one second of seeing those faces, and then it tends to accumulate. Of course, you can discover that you really agree with somebody with a wrong shape of face, but a lot is influenced by those cues that we're barely aware of.

President Clinton was a very good example of somebody to whom people could relate very immediately, and there was that sense of intimacy that he could generate on television. So did President Reagan. The way that presidents stride from the helicopter tells us a lot, we think it tells us a lot, about how decisive they are.

That is probably nonsense. It's very unlikely to tell us something valid, but we have those intuitions. They come to us and we actually cannot resist them very well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So that's a candidate to hear what David Khaneman has to say about political pundits and how they do to predicting the future. Check out the rest of my interview on my Facebook page, facebook.com/suzannecnn.

And Newt Gingrich comparing your local credit union to Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage company. He says they're both government sponsored. Find out whether his claim passes the truthometer test, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right, got another political debate means more attacks, accusations, but can they withstand the truth-o-meter test. Bill Adair, from Washington Bureau Chief for the St. Petersburg Times and Pulitzer Prize winning editor of politifact.com, joining us with a look at some of these recent claims, and whether or not they measure up to the truth-o-meter.

So Bill, let's start with this one from Newt Gingrich, during last night's debate. He said, when I was speaker, he had four consecutive balanced budgets. What do we know?

BILL ADAIR, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES: We rated that false on the truth-o-meter. He actually had two consecutive balanced budgets while he was speaker.

The other two occurred after he left office. Let's not forget, he resigned in, I think it was 1999, so the last two budgets were not ones when he was speaker. So he gets a false on the truth-o-meter for that one.

MALVEAUX: All right, a false. What about this one from Mitt Romney last night, he said, "We have 25 million Americans out of work." Is that true? Does that seem high to you?

ADAIR: That is high. We gave that a half-true on our truth-o-meter. The official number of unemployed, using the regular standard, is 13.1 million. To get to 25, you have to use what economists call the U-6, which includes categories of people that we really don't think about being unemployed.

People who have given up locking for work, and also people who are in a part-time job and would like to work full-time. So we gave him a half-true for that one.

MALVEAUX: OK, and another quote from Gingrich, he repeats a claim that "electric coops and credit unions are government sponsored enterprises, like the mortgage company Freddie Mac."

ADAIR: Way off on that one. We gave that a pants on fire. The reason is, what Gingrich is trying to do here is to make his work for Freddie Mac sound pretty benign, like he's just working for your local credit union. But, indeed, credit unions are not the same as Freddie Mac in terms of being government sponsored enterprises. A GSE, there are only a handful. They are chartered. They're actually created by legislation by Congress. And in the case of Freddie Mac, actually, you know, have a direct line of credit. So, not a good comparison. Way off. There are only a handful of GSEs, not credit unions, not electric co-ops. So, pants on fire on the Truth-O-Meter for that one.

MALVEAUX: All right, Bill Adair. Thank you, Bill. Appreciate it.

We are getting a lot of responses to today's "Talk Back" question. We asked, what do you want to hear from President Obama in the State of the Union Address? Jane says, "I want to hear him identify by name every senator and congressman that has held up every piece of legislation he has recommended. That would be interesting viewing." Carol Costello, she's up next with your responses.

But first, want to bring you some free money advice from the CNN "Help Desk."

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Manisha Thakor is a personal finance expert and Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is the founder of the financial advice blog askthemoneycoach.com.

Ladies, thank you for being here. We certainly appreciate it.

Manisha, first question to you. This comes from Betty in Milwaukee. Betty wrote us, "I have no savings and my student loans will come due in May. Should I cash out my 401(k) and pay off my $28,000 in credit card debt?"

MANISHA THAKOR, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Oh, OK, short answer, no. You have multiple challenges to deal with here. And while it might seem very easy to take that 401(k) money and cash it out, of course what's going to happen is you're going to have to pay a penalty and taxes. Your student loans aren't coming due in full. It's your first payment. So what I'd rather see her due between now and then is take on some extra work. Earn some extra income. Tighten that belt and start paying down an extra $50 a month on those credit card bills, $100 a month if she can, and make sure that she can make the minimum payment. But don't touch the 401(k) money.

HARLOW: Yes, huge tax implications there.

Lynnette, your question comes from Jeff in Anchorage, Alaska. Jeff wrote in, "although I pay off my credit cards each month, I think I have too many accounts open. How should I close down the cards while avoiding damage to my credit score?"

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Great question. A couple of points that he'll want to keep in mind are that you don't want to close all the accounts at once. That can backfire against you and cause your FICO score to be decreased. You also want to make sure that you leave open the account that you've had the longest or the account that has the highest credit line, because part of your credit score is based on the length of your credit history, as well as your credit utilization rate, which just means how much debt you've charged versus how much you have available. So keep those cards open and maybe close one or two, but sequentially, over time, not all at once.

HARLOW: And don't get anymore, no matter what they offer.

KHALFANI-COX: Well, you know, you can get them, but just use them wisely. That's the key.

HARLOW: Use them wisely.

Guys, thank you so much.

And if you have a question you want answered, just send us an e-mail anytime to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right. We are getting ready for President Obama's State of the Union Address tonight. People are weighing in on what they'd like to hear. Carol Costello, she's here with today's "Talk Back" responses.

So, Carol, what do they want to hear from the president?

COSTELLO: Oh, wait until you hear our "Talk Back" question today, what do you want to hear from President Obama's State of the Union Address.

This from Edward. "I want to hear the president talk about those who caused the financial collapse/meltdown and I want to hear about them doing some real jail time. A more fair tax system where wealthy fat cats and corporations pay their fair share."

This from John. "I would like to hear our president mention the word grace. Giving grace towards others is a lost art. Grace toward others when they screw up. What could our world look like tomorrow morning if our conversations and news stories were about what it looks like to share grace with us instead of the same old partisanship we've come to know and expect."

This from Peter. "Truth and transparency for once in the history of modern politics, not gilded words and hastily made promises that will never happen, but truth for the American people. I believe we deserve that much at least."

This from Emily. "I'd love to hear the president sing again for us. It was Al Green last week. Perhaps we can hear some Lady Gaga tonight." Hmm. I'm all for that.

Keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn. And thanks, as always, for your comments.

MALVEAUX: That was a good one, Carol, I have to say. The whole singing one.

COSTELLO: If he dresses Lady Gaga, that would be even better.

MALVEAUX: Stay with us, Carol. I want you to check this out. We have the Oscar nominations. Oscar nominee George Clooney here. I want you to watch this. Happened just a while ago. Best actor in his role of "The Descendents." Guess who his rival is. Do you know?

COSTELLO: Brad Pitt.

MALVEAUX: Brad Pitt, yes, for "Moneyball." So both of these movies are up for best picture. And which one -- OK, I spoke with one of the producers. I'm not going to mention which one it was. She says it doesn't matter if you see the film, she's going for Brad Pitt.

COSTELLO: Really?

MALVEAUX: Yes.

COSTELLO: I only saw "Moneyball," so I can only go for Brad Pitt too. But George Clooney --

MALVEAUX: I think she's just looking at, you know, how good-looking the two are and she's going with Brad Pitt. Is that even fair?

COSTELLO: Hey, and I think it's a toss-up. That's hard. That's a difficult choice.

MALVEAUX: It's a tough one. It is a tough one. But they're both great movies. So we'll have to see. The better actor or the most handsome actor, may the best man win, right?

COSTELLO: I'm sure it's based on talent, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Oh, always.

All right. See you, Carol.

Well, forget about Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney. If there is one Republican who should scare the Democrats, it's Karl Rove. We're going to tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Some say that Karl Rove, a name you may have not heard recently, should be the one scaring Democrats more than any Republican candidate. Why? Jessica Yellin reports on today's "In Depth."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the man Democrats love to hate.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Two groups funded and advised by Karl Rove --

DAVID AXELROD: An interest group can give millions of dollars to Karl Rove, secretly.

YELLIN: What's up with that?

KARL ROVE, COFOUNDER, AMERICA CROSSROADS & CROSSROADS GPS: President Obama will have the cash, but he can't win by running on his record.

YELLIN: Karl Rove is the most public face of American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, outside spending groups devoted to electing Republicans and blocking the president's agenda. But the man who runs it all is Steven Law. His offices are just a few blocks from the White House.

STEVEN LAW: It's kind of shockingly spare, really. It's -- we have holes in the wall and we -- it's not particularly a high-end kind of place.

YELLIN: But don't let that fool you.

LAW: Yes, our goal is to raise between $240 million and $300 million.

YELLIN: Because the Obama campaign is so good at raising money, he's convinced as soon as there's a Republican nominee, the Democrats will --

LAW: Try to make them unelectable prior to the conventions. Our nominee will not have resources and groups like American Crossroads can come in and fill that gap.

YELLIN: Law's groups can collect sometimes multi-million dollar checks in two ways. For donors who don't mind giving publicly, there's American Crossroads. This super PAC can make hard-hitting political adds.

OBAMA: We've got shovel-ready --

Shovel-ready --

Shovel-ready --

Projects.

YELLIN: For donors who want no fingerprints, there's Crossroads GPS. Contributions here are kept secret. The group has to make mostly so- called issue ads, meaning they can't say vote for or against a candidate. But can you tell the difference?

OBAMA: Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, POLITICAL AD: Fourteen million out of work. America drowning in debt.

YELLIN: Its GPS does more than TV. They also invest in other groups on the right, a kind of venture capital fund for politics.

JONATHAN COLLEGIO, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, AMERICAN CROSSROADS: We should expand the playing field, make sure that the groups that are doing effective things are getting money.

YELLIN: In 2010, they wrote fat checks to organizations fighting tax increases and President Obama's health care law. Crossroads also hosts a regular lunch here to coordinate strategy with other super PACs on the right.

LAW: It's totally appropriate for us to communicate with other groups like that.

YELLIN: Law says Crossroads was created to counter the influence of labor unions on the left, but one campaign watchdog sees big differences between the two.

PAUL SEAMUS RYAN, ASSOCIATE LEGAL COUNCIL, THE CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER: I think labor unions improve democracy because they represent large numbers of people. American Crossroads, it simply isn't the case. They represent a very small number of very wealthy billionaires. That's less democratic by definition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: We're going to bring in Jessica here.

So it's an interesting parallel, Jessica. An excellent report you did. This parallel that they draw between Crossroads and labor unions. Do you believe that that's a fair comparison?

YELLIN: Well, when you talk to labor union representatives about this, they get very upset and say absolutely not for three main reasons. One, labor unions are subject to much more serious disclosure laws, because they don't just report to the Federal Election Commission, they also report to the Department of Labor. So they have to show every dollar they spend on political things, on political issues.

Two, they say they're much more involved in get out the vote efforts, although the folks at Crossroads says they're really working hard at get out the vote efforts online. And the other point labor unions make is that they're much more democratic for the reason that this man said at the end of the piece. They take small contributions from thousands of people, rather than big contributions from a few. But that really goes to a very different approach to politics, you know?

MALVEAUX: Yes.

YELLIN: It's about ideology.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. Excellent report. Thank you very much, Jessica. I appreciate that.

CNN NEWSROOM is continuing right now with Randi Kaye.

Hey, Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Suzanne.