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Why Addiction is So Hard to Overcome; Suicidal Veteran's Call for Help; Teachers Get Free Plastic Surgery; Dow Jones Hits Historic 13,000 Mark; Are Republicans Responding to Obama's Cooperation Message; Barack Obama Address Congress on Cooperation After Payroll Tax Extension; Student Sues University Over Affirmative Action
Aired February 21, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux.
Want to get you up to speed for this Tuesday, February 21st.
A former California teacher accused of lewd acts against children in his classroom goes to court half an hour from now. Now, police say 61-year-old Mark Berndt bound and gagged some of the children and then took photos of them.
Now, some of the photos show cockroaches on the kids faces and mouths. It's just really awful. Others showing girls with plastic spoons held to their mouths. Police believed those spoons filled with semen.
For the first time, a Catholic church higher-up goes on trial in a priest sex abuse case. Now, jury selection is happening today in Philadelphia. Monsignor William Lynn supervised priests who are also on trial charged with raping and assaulting boys in their care. Now, Lynn is charged with covering up the abuse. Church experts say that Lin is the highest-ranking member of the Catholic Diocese ever to face criminal prosecution in a priest sex abuse case.
The Arizona sheriff accused of threatening to deport his former boyfriend says the allegations against him are part of a political ploy. Paul Babeu strongly denies the accusations. Babeu resigned from a leadership post with the Romney campaign, but he's still running for Congress.
In an interview with our Wolf Blitzer, he said should be judged on his record of service, not his sexuality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA: This is outrageous, that this has been brought up because I'm a conservative Republican, and now they think that somehow there is hypocrisy because I'm gay. I've never worn it on my sleeve like this is who I am. I don't define myself, I don't think we in America -- we're different in America, and we celebrate our differences, and we see it as a strength, the beauty of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Well, is it wrong for colleges to consider race when accepting students? One former high school graduate says yes and is taking her case against the University of Texas to the Supreme Court.
This fall, the court will decide whether state-mandated affirmative action admission policies violate the rights of white applicants. The school defends its policy, saying race is just one of many factors considered to create a diverse campus.
No letup in the violence in Syria despite pleas from aid workers. They are trying to persuade both sides in the conflict to stop fighting long enough to get food and medical supplies to families who are stuck in the most devastated neighborhoods in the city of Homs. Now, religious leaders and volunteers have been a lifeline smuggling in supplies.
Our Arwa Damon says the process is elaborate and dangerous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Even an operation like this one, bringing in basic supplies that residents here so desperately need, we have to have them under cover of darkness. They also have to be as fast as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: This protest erupted outside Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan after word spread that religious materials including Korans were being burned. Now, desecrating the holy book is seen by many Muslims as an unforgivable affront. The commander of the international security force in Afghanistan was quick to apologize. He said disposing of the material in that manner was a mistake.
And it's official. Greece getting a $173 billion bailout. Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro approved this deal to help Greece avoid possible default next month.
Now, the country has been in recession for five years. It is the second European bailout. The first, $146 billion. That came back in 2010.
Mitt Romney getting his political mojo back. That is according to the latest national polls showing him trailing Rick Santorum by 10 points. But Romney is on the campaign trail in Michigan this hour. Newt Gingrich addressing the Oklahoma state legislature. Gingrich stepping up his attacks on President Obama, saying he's incapable of defending the United States.
President Obama, well, he is trying to build momentum from the payroll tax cut extension passed by Congress. What is he doing? Well, this hour he's calling on lawmakers to keep up the spirit of cooperation, pass more bipartisan measures. We're going to bring that to you live.
The president is going to be joined by people who tweeted about the tax cut and what it means for them. What does it mean? Well, it's worth more than $80 a month for somebody who is making $50,000 a year.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown of some of the stories that we are also covering.
First, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's going "In Depth" on why the battle against drug and alcohol addiction is just so hard.
And outrage from veteran groups after a veteran calls a suicide help line, ends up with weapons charges.
And then, taxpayers footing the bill for school teachers' plastic surgery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They would come in for, like, hair removal on their lips, face.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do they also come in for liposuction?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Breast enhancement?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they do.
TUCHMAN: Rhinoplasty?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: So it's busy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We don't know for sure what caused Whitney Houston's sudden death until the coroner's reports come back. Her battle with drug addiction may or may not have played a role.
What we do know is that for more than 23 million Americans, fighting addiction, quitting is not just a matter of willpower. There's new research that has found that substance abuse causes lasting changes in the brain function that bring about even more cravings.
We're going to go "In Depth" this morning with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, it's good to see you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
MALVEAUX: You know, this news, it's kind of difficult to take sometimes, because you look at it and you see -- we know people who have addictions, whether it's cigarettes, whether it's alcohol, whether it's bad behavior.
GUPTA: Sure. Yes.
MALVEAUX: Does the brain change? Is there something that is inside of the brain that looks different in an addict than someone who's not?
GUPTA: I think, pretty reliably, yes. I mean, the question a lot of people are asking is, which came first? Do you have this brain that is more vulnerable to these changes, or does the exposure to these substances somehow change the brain? Not entirely sure, but to your point, I mean, the idea that this is a brain disease I think is pretty well-documented.
Everyone has an anticipation, some sort of desire or craving. What happens after that though is different. For example, if you look at -- I think we have an animation to show this, but someone who takes substances, you see there they feel good. What you see being released there is dopamine. That's a feel-good hormone. It gives you the sense of well-being or euphoria.
But take a look at two images now, the image of a brain in someone who's not an addict and someone who is.
On the left, those bright areas, that's that brightness that stays bright. You continue to feel good. In an addict, it goes away quickly.
So what is the response, Suzanne? You take more and more of the substance. You had the euphoria, you want it back, you keep taking substances over and over again. That's a simplistic way of looking at what addiction is, but the idea that you can measure this in the brain in some ways, not just anecdotal, it's measurable, is a pretty significant development.
MALVEAUX: So are these changes inside the brain permanent?
GUPTA: Well, great question. And the answer seems to be that, for the most part, the idea of the memory of addiction is permanent.
So, for example, while someone may go back to a way of life where they can have normal response to pleasurable things, it's possible. If a cigarette smoker smoked for a while, then stops smoking for 10 years, if they pick up a cigarette and start smoking again, it's the memory of that addiction that comes back quickly, so they're much more likely to quickly become addicted to it. Whereas you, if you've never smoked before and you started smoking, it would take a long time for you to develop an addiction to it.
So it's that vulnerable brain, that brain that remembers the addiction, that stays. And that's why they say don't fall off the wagon, once an addict, always an addict, because of that idea that the brain can quickly revert back.
MALVEAUX: That memory.
GUPTA: Yes. MALVEAUX: And what about the relapse? Is that similar to other chronic diseases?
GUPTA: I think it is very similar. The And I think fact that they are used in the same sentence, you know, addiction and chronic disease, is an important point, because it is a chronic disease. And we have a graphic showing just how much of -- how similar they are on the left versus a lot of other chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, asthma.
All those have a certain -- you know, you expose yourself to bad foods, for example, with heart disease. You expose yourself to allergens or some sort of exposures with asthma. The same thing can happen with addiction. You have a relapse because of that.
But again, the idea that this is a brain disease, not just a lack of willpower, I think most people agree on this. What they don't agree on is exactly how best to treat it, but the origins of it, the ideology, is becoming more established science.
MALVEAUX: It's well documented.
GUPTA: Yes.
MALVEAUX: All right, Sanjay. Thank you so much.
GUPTA: You got it. No problem.
MALVEAUX: We really appreciate it.
Tomorrow we're going to continue the "In Depth" on addiction. I'm going to talk to former Atlanta anchor Roy Hobbs about his very public battle with drug addiction and how he overcame after hitting rock bottom. That is tomorrow on CNN at 12:30 Eastern.
And now to a suicidal veteran's call for help that could have him in prison for 40 years. So here's what happened.
Sean Duvall called a Veterans Affairs suicide hotline last June, and he told the counselor he was on the Virginia Tech campus and he was about to kill himself. He had made a homemade gun and he had made it with a steel pipe. And the counselor talked him out of killing himself and he sent help.
Well, once Duvall was taken to a psychiatric hospital and treated he felt a lot better, but that didn't last. He was soon charged with making and possessing a gun, which could lead to 40 years in prison.
I want to bring in our legal contributor, Paul Callan, to explain some of this, Paul, because this generated a lot of conversation this morning among our team here.
Why would that be the case, that you would have a U.S. attorney pursuing charges against this guy who was at the point of suicide?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I'll just try to explain it from the U.S. attorney's point of view, and I don't necessarily agree with his decision here. But the law basically says if you possess a weapon, a gun, a homemade gun -- this might be viewed even as a type of homemade bomb -- that is clearly a crime under U.S. law. And this veteran happened to go to the campus of Virginia Tech, of course a place that has had a horrible amount of gun-related violence.
When he makes the phone call to the suicide hotline, he tells them he's armed, he's at Virginia Tech. And obviously, the police swoop in and they place him under arrest.
So, on the face of it, it looks like a case you would want to prosecute. However, prosecutors have discretion.
This prosecutor could have looked at it and said, hey, this is a veteran with a mental problem, he doesn't deserve to go to prison for 40 years. Now, for some reason, the prosecutor hasn't taken that course, and I think that's what's very unusual about this.
MALVEAUX: And Paul, clearly, he made this crude homemade weapon to hurt himself and then he calls for help. And the concern is that others like himself seeking help are not going to do that because they are going to be afraid they're going to get in trouble.
Do you think the law enforcement's pursuit of this guy sends a wrong message?
CALLAN: I think it sends a terrible message, because we have a lot of vets who have serious problems. I'm told statistically, there are 18 veteran suicides a year, and we certainly want to do everything possible to get them psychiatric help, particularly when they are in danger of hurting themselves.
Many of them have guns, they are familiar with weapons, they've been trained by the U.S. military, so I think we've got to find a way to protect them. And frankly, I think we need prosecutors who will look at cases on a case-by-case basis and say, you know something, this is not a terrorist, this is not someone who was trying to hurt people at Virginia Tech, it's somebody in need of help, and decline to prosecute. It's called prosecutorial discretion, and it's why we hope prosecutors will exercise that discretion.
Now, there may be more to this, Suzanne, than we know about. And a lot of times I know in criminal cases the prosecutor knows something that the public doesn't. So I think you have to keep an open mind for a little bit until we hear more from the prosecutor, but boy, on the face of it, I'm with the vet on this fact pattern so far.
MALVEAUX: And just to be clear here, for the law, say if you're in trouble and you make a desperate call, you're in danger of overdosing, or you want to shoot yourself, does the law protect you in any way from being charged even if you have illegal substances or something that's going on? Is there somewhere in the law that actually allows you to make that kind of phone call without being afraid of being prosecuted?
CALLAN: No, you have to have a fear of being prosecuted. Your call to the help line is protected in the sense that they can't reveal that you're suicidal, they can't reveal it from a health standpoint. But if you call a suicide hotline and say, I have a bomb, I have a gun, I have illegal drugs, that can be turned over to law enforcement.
And as a matter of fact, if you call and say, I have a gun and I'm going to kill myself, they are required to call the police because you might use the gun on yourself and somebody else. And frankly, we've seen a lot of cases where suicidal individuals have killed other people. So there is not immunity and there is not complete protection on these suicide hotlines.
MALVEAUX: All right.
Paul Callan.
Thank you so much, Paul. Appreciate it.
CALLAN: Nice being with you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Nice to see you.
There are perks to being a teacher in Buffalo, New York. I'm serious. We're talking plastic surgery on the taxpayer's dime, everything from lipo to nose jobs. We've got that story up ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We also are following another story, free plastic surgery for teachers. It kind of sounds bizarre, right? But it is not if you live in Buffalo, New York.
For the last 40 years, teachers there, they've been getting Hollywood star treatment on the taxpayer's dime. Last year, the district actually spent almost $6 million -- we're talking facelifts, breast implants, you name it. Meanwhile, they're $42 million in debt.
Gary Tuchman, he's got the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This Buffalo plastic surgeon has a lot of happy patients.
VALERIE AKAUOLA, BUFFALO, NEW YORK TEACHER: Let's just suppose that I was a woman who weighed over 300 pounds and I lost maybe 150 or 160 pounds.
TUCHMAN: Indeed, that's what happened to Buffalo school teacher Valerie Akauola. But it's not just the results that make her happy, it's the sweet deal that she gets, the sweet deal that all the 3,400 teachers in Buffalo are eligible to get.
Under one of their insurance plan options, they're billed nothing for any plastic surgery procedure such as Botox, liposuction, tummy tucks. And there is no deductible.
Linda Tokarz teaches second grade and says she gets regular treatments.
LINDA TOKARZ, BUFFALO, NEW YORK TEACHER: I think it's great for us. I wouldn't want to see it taken away.
TUCHMAN: Dr. Kulwant Bhangoo has been a plastic surgeon in Buffalo for about 40 years.
DR. KULWANT S. BHANGOO, PLASTIC SURGEON: I feel that the teachers have paid their dues, and I think it would be wrong to take it away from them.
TUCHMAN: While he does have plenty of non-teacher patients, Dr. Bhangoo does say three out of every 10 are Buffalo teachers, and the school district insurance covers every single penny.
BHANGOO: They would come in for, like, hair removal on their lips, face.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Do they also come in for liposuction?
BHANGOO: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Breast enhancement?
BHANGOO: Yes, they do.
TUCHMAN: Facelift?
BHANGOO: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Rhinoplasty?
BHANGOO: Yes.
TUCHMAN: So it's busy?
BHANGOO: Yes.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Dr. Bhangoo is one of many plastic surgeons who advertise in, where else? The teachers' union newsletter.
Last year, Buffalo schools spent $5.9 million on plastic surgery, which is also known as a cosmetic rider. The Buffalo teachers have had this rider for nearly four decades.
LOUIS PETRUCCI, PRESIDENT, BUFFALO, NEW YORK BOARD OF EDUCATION: I've been unable to identify another district that has cosmetic riders for teachers.
TUCHMAN: Now, you might think Buffalo School District must be flush with cash to be offering perks like free plastic surgery, right? Wrong. Louis Petrucci, the president of the Buffalo Board of Education, says he's projecting a $42 million deficit in next year's budget.
(on camera): If you had this $5.9 million that wasn't being spent on plastic surgery, what would you be doing with it now?
PETRUCCI: Hiring about 240 teachers.
TUCHMAN: You don't have to be a brain surgeon to know that a plastic surgeon or a teacher would like this policy more than the typical taxpayer. But the teachers will tell you there's a lot more with the story. They say their contract with the city expired nearly a decade ago, that negotiations have failed.
(voice-over): And they add they are woefully underpaid. It's quite interesting to hear what the president of the teacher's union says about the plastic surgery benefit.
PHILIP RUMORE, PRESIDENT, BUFFALO, NEW YORK TEACHERS FEDERATION: We've told the district, you know, from the beginning of negotiations six or eight years ago that we're willing to give it up. And as long as the district comes back to the table with us and negotiates with us it's gone.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Do you feel that as a gesture of good faith, the union should say, teachers, no more free plastic surgery?
PETRUCCI: It would be a wonderful gesture of good faith.
RUMORE: We're willing to give it up. All the district has to do is come to the table and negotiate it with us.
TUCHMAN: But you're not willing to do it unilaterally?
RUMORE: No.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The fact is that police and fire fighters in Buffalo have similar plastic surgery programs, but those departments are not dealing with the same financial programs as the economically challenged school system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody works for a living. They should pay their tithes and offerings like everybody else.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think it's right the taxpayer has to pay for that. Not for free anyway.
TUCHMAN: But at least for now, the policy remains in a school district with a unique mix of brain and beauty.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Buffalo, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: We want to hear what you think about this story. Should school teachers get free plastic surgery, paid for by taxpayers?
Send us your thoughts, Facebook.com/SuzanneCNN. We're going to read some of those comments on the air.
We've got breaking news here. I want to bring in the best of the best here. We've got Christine Romans and Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
We have seen the Dow hit that magic number, 13,000. It has dipped just a little below right now, it's not quite at that number, but we did see it during our story that we aired.
I want to go to you, Christine, first. Tell us what this means.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, your life hasn't changed from this very moment that it did two minutes ago. OK?
MALVEAUX: OK.
ROMANS: And neither did your money, really. But 13,000, you know, it's one of those milestones.
Every time we hit one of these round numbers, people like to take stock and say, wow, that means that the 30 big companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average are doing well. These companies are doing well, so their stocks are doing well. We haven't really seen this kind of optimism about the stock market in three or four years now.
So that's what is driving this.
Now, there are those who would say, but wait, this doesn't mean the companies are letting go of all that cash they are sitting on, it doesn't mean they are hiring aggressively. The companies that are really doing all the hiring are small-and-medium-size companies at this point. But it does show you that the money you have in your 401(k) is doing a little bit better right now.
The S&P 500 -- that's 500 stocks -- it's a better indicator, as Alison and I like to point out, better indicator of what's in your 401(k), that's up more than 8.5 percent so far this year. So stocks are telling us that the economy is slowly healing, they are not so worried about Greece anymore, and that the way the jobless situation is, at least static for now, is something that -- something the stock market likes.
So that what is you're seeing right here, although, boy, this has been just tantalizing, this 13,000 that we're hitting for a second and then pulled back.
MALVEAUX: Right. It was two seconds.
Is there any significance to that at all, or is it just the fact that it's hovering around 13,000 is really what's the big deal here?
ROMANS: Yes. I mean, and people who are making their orders in the stock market right now, I'm going to be honest with you, they are not buying or selling because they we're so close to 13,000. They're buying or selling because they want to buy or sell that particular stock or that particular index. So it's flirting around here because it is just a psychological number. Sometimes these round numbers can be what we call technical resistance or targets like that, but this is really just a psychological number here.
MALVEAUX: All right.
Alison, want to bring you in here. You're at the New York Stock Exchange.
How are they reacting to this? What are they saying? What are they doing?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, a plume of balloons did not come down from the ceiling. I'll tell you that. That did not happen.
What did happen is you heard kind of the sarcastic cheer come from the floor. You know, people having sort of that sarcasm about that 13,000 number because of a lot of what Christine said. Your life isn't going to change because the Dow crossed over 13,000 ever so slightly.
But you can't deny that it is an important psychological milestone for a lot of people, a lot of people look at the Dow for confidence as far as how good the economy is doing. Whether that is right or wrong, some people see how stocks are performing as how they equate it to how the economy is performing overall. And you know, the Dow has come a long way from where it has been. It's made up a lot of ground and it hasn't just happened over the past week. It's been happening over the past several months despite all the uncertainty as to whether or not Greece would security the second debt deal. The markets have been reacting to favorable economic reports that have come out lately on jobs, housing, GDP. GDP is weak but growing. What you see are stocks, our investors reacting to an improving economy.
MALVEAUX: Alison, out of all the things you mentioned, you said the economy, jobs, some of the reports about unemployment, which one do you think is the strongest indicator, which one is driving these investors to be a lot more confident in their investments now?
KOSIK: When you take them overall, the whole package, but if you want to pull out I think it's the jobs number. When you see an economic recovery happen, it's really jobs and the housing market that are kind of the laggard. The fact we're seeing improvement in the jobs market, that's a good sign. If people get jobs, they will have more money and that makes the economy turn around -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Go back to Christine real quick.
Christine, you had talked before about this good economic picture here, bright economic picture, especially when it comes to creating jobs. But not everybody is really feeling this the same way. There are some benefiting and some who are really suffering. Why is it that we don't see kind of a universal uplifting of everyone when it comes to the recovery?
ROMANS: Wouldn't that be great? They are calling it a jobless recovery. There are concerns from the Fed chief and others in fact you have a lot of people out of work for six months or longer who are structurally unemployed, meaning very difficult to get them back in the labor market. And that is something the big economists are studying, trying to figure out what it does to society and the job market.
Look, you talk about demand for high-skilled machinists that companies can't get. Demand for engineers. It's engineer week, by the way. Cue all your engineer jokes at the moment. Scientist, mathematicians, very highly scheduled specific jobs they're trying to hire people to do those. and then you have all these people saying wait a minute, I'm skilled, ready to work, but I'm not finding my place in this economy. When you look at a Dow at 13,000 and contrast it with what people are telling you at the kitchen table, it's a very two-speed recovery.
It's also something that makes it difficult for the president. This is the highest the stock market has been since his presidency. Gas prices are up. Long-term unemployment is a problem. 8 percent in unemployment is too high. Every one of these indicators is telling us things are better, remind us how far we have to go.
MALVEAUX: What are the kinds of jobs that are actually coming back? Who are these people who are hiring and investing in the companies?
ROMANS: We have a lot of temporary jobs coming back. We've seen mining is an industry hiring, petroleum engineering, anything has to do with engineering. There's a huge shortage of skilled and licensed truck drivers, for example. We've been sing jobs in health care, jobs in retail. Here's the biggest growth, retail, leisure and hospitality, basically waiters and people in the service industry who, in some cases, are not making as much money as the big manufacturing jobs we have been losing for 20 years. So there is the structural shift. What will the labor market look like? How much money will the wages pay into the tax base? What kind of society will we build from them? These are big history-book kinds of questions being asked right now even with the Dow at 13,000.
MALVEAUX: Christine Romans, thank you very much.
Alison Kosik, thank you as well.
We're keeping our eye on the Dow Jones. The Dow Jones hit the historic mark, 13,000 mark. We're breaking it down for you, telling you what that means.
We'll move on because we know President Obama is trying to build some momentum from the payroll tax extension. Now his message to Congress is cooperate. Right? We cooperated on this, let's cooperate on other things. We hear from the president live this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: President Obama has a message for Congress, let's cooperate. We expect to hear from the president in a couple minute. He's trying to build on the passage of the payroll tax cut by encouraging more bipartisan cooperation. I want to bring in our political director, Mark Preston. He's in Mesa, Arizona, where all the Republican hopefuls are gathering for the big debate.
In the meantime, Mark Preston, what are we supposed -- the president, obviously saying he wants to get some things done, he needs to get things done. How are the Republicans responding in terms of that message?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, first, we should say it's magnanimous of the president who, at the beginning of the year, had his spokesman go out, Suzanne, and say that he was going to bypass Congress. He was no longer going to be tied to D.C. and was just going to push things through. Now, what is interesting about President Obama in relation to the Republicans running for their GOP nomination, is that President Obama doesn't have a primary. It doesn't have anyone that he has to play against in his own party. And also his reelection is based upon getting things done, getting things accomplished, and appearing as if he is able to work across the aisle. So for President Obama, this isn't a hard lift for him to go hold a news conference in a few moments and say we need to get together and do things.
As far as the Republicans now, they're not going to say that, not the ones running for president, because their whole mission is to say that they have the plan to turn the country around, that they have the tools to get it done. And they don't think that President Obama is the right person to lead the country.
MALVEAUX: So let's talk about the Republican race, and the upcoming primary in Arizona, where you are. Arizona has the third- highest foreclosure rate in the country, illegal immigration a big concern. The folks you're talking to there, what are they telling you that is important to them, what do they want to hear from the Republican candidates?
PRESTON: What is interesting, regardless of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Florida, Nevada, everyone has their own pet issues, whether it's the home foreclosure rate, whether illegal immigration here along the border, but what is the number-one issue is the economy. People who have lost their jobs, looking to get their jobs back, who know somebody who lost their jobs. What is particularly sad here in Arizona as we saw in Florida as well as Nevada, there is a huge problem with the mortgage crisis. And folks out here want to know how the federal government can turn it around because, otherwise, they don't know how it can be fixed. So that certainly is something they want to hear and specifically here in Arizona.
They do want to know about illegal immigration, how that will be fixed. Illegal immigration is a problem here, but might not be such a big problem in South Carolina, let's say, because they don't have a border -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Mark, obviously you're there. The debate will happen tomorrow there. You have been able to gauge a little bit about what people are feeling and their thinking. Is there anybody who's ahead of the pack leading in tomorrow's debate?
PRESTON: You know what is amazing is the turnaround by Rick Santorum. We've seen it in the national numbers. The Gallup poll shows he's 10 points ahead of Mitt Romney going into this morning.
(CROSSTALK)
MALVEAUX: I have to interrupt you for a moment here. The president is speaking. We'll go directly to the White House.
(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to thank my outstanding vice president, Joe Biden, who is here today.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: And members of my administration for joining us. But most all I want to thank the men and women standing with me today, as well as all the Americans who made their voices heard during the debate about extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance. We are here because of you. This got done because of you. Because you called, you e-mailed, you tweeted your representatives and you demanded action. You made it clear you wanted to see some common sense in Washington. And because you did, no working American will see their taxes go up this year. That is good news.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Because of what you did, millions of American out there still looking for work are going to continue to get help with unemployment insurance. That's because of you. I called on --
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: That is worth applauding as well.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: You will remember I called on Congress to pass this middle class tax cut back in September as part of my broader jobs plan. And for the typical American family, it is a big deal. It means $40 extra in their paycheck and that $40 helps to pay the rent, groceries, the rising cost of gas, which is on a lot of people's minds right now.
Loranda Hill (ph), right here, told us how $40 covers the water bill for a month. This makes a difference for a lot of families.
Get back over there, Joe?
(LAUGHTER)
And more people spending more money means more businesses can hire more workers and the entire economy gets another boost as the recovery is making steam. So Congress did the right thing here. They listened to the voices of the American people. Each side made a few compromises. We passed some important reforms to help turn unemployment insurance into reemployment insurance so more people get training and the skills they need to get back in a job. We passed an initiative that will create jobs by expanding wireless broadband and insuring that first responders have access to the latest life-saving technologies.
We've got some first responders here. We're very grateful for the work they do.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: So, in the end, everyone acted in the interests of the middle class and people who are striving to get in the middle class through hard work. And that's how it should be. That is what Americans expect. That is what Americans deserve.
Now my message to Congress is don't stop here. Keep going.
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OBAMA: Keep taking the action that people are calling for to keep this economy growing. This may be an election year but the American people have no patience for gridlock, and just reflexive partisanship and just paying attention to poll numbers and the next election instead of the next generation and what we can do to strengthen opportunity for all Americans. Americans don't have the luxury to put off tough decisions and neither should we.
There is a lot more we can do and there is plenty of time to do it if we want to build an economy where every American has a chance to find a good job that pays well and supports a family. For example, Congress needs to pass my plan to help responsible homeowners save about $3,000 a year by refinancing their homes, their mortgages at historically low rates.
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OBAMA: We are doing what we can administratively to provide some Americans that opportunity. I want all Americans to have that opportunity. And we need Congress to act to do it. Congress needs to step up and support small businesses, and especially companies that want to export. It's time we stopped rewarding businesses that send jobs overseas. Start rewarding companies right here that want to create jobs in the United States and sell to other countries as opposed exporting jobs to other countries. That is what we need to do,
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OBAMA: Congress can act on that.
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OBAMA: Congress needs to make the Buffett Rule a reality. This is common sense. (APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: If you make more than a million dollars a year, make more than a million dollars a year, you should pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent.
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OBAMA: And if you do that, that means, if you make less than $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of Americans do, you shouldn't see your taxes go up.
And we won't be adding to the deficit. These are things we can do today. It shouldn't be that difficult. Whenever Congress refuses to act, Joe and I will act. In the months to come --
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OBAMA: -- wherever we have an opportunity, we'll take steps on our own to keep this economy moving. Because we've got a choice right now. We can settle for a country where a few people are doing very well and everybody else is having to struggle to get by, or we can build an economy where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is taking responsibility. And everybody is playing by the same set of rules. That is the economy I want.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We still have struggles out there. We're coming out of the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. We have a long way to go before every single person who is looking for a job can find a job. But where we stand now looks different than where we stood a few years ago. Over the last 23 months, businesses have created millions of jobs. The auto industry is back on top. Our recovery is gaining steam. Our economy is getting stronger. So we're headed in the right direction.
And the last thing we should do is turn around and go back to the policies that weren't working in the first place. That is why it's so important for us to stay focused and Congress to continue to do the things that the American people want to see done in order to improve the economy. We've got to build an economy that is built on American manufacturing, and American-made energy and improving the skills and capacity of American workers.
We've got to make sure that when we think about energy, that we're fuelling America by home-grown and alternative energy sources that make us less dependent on foreign oil. Skills for American workers, everybody has an opportunity for not only four-year colleges, but two- year colleges, community colleges. Dr. Jill Biden is doing a great job promoting all across the country. We put forward plans on each of these areas that can make a huge difference.
Most of all we have to have a return to some homespun American values -- hard work, fair play, shared responsibility. That is who we are as a people. The reason I'm so confident in our future is because the folks who are standing with me here today, some of the folks who are in the audience, because all the families and workers and small business owners and students and seniors that I've met over the last few weeks and that I met during the course of my political career. When times are tough, Americans don't give up. They push ahead. They do whatever it takes to make their lives better, their communities better, and their countries better.
With or without Congress, every day, I'll be continuing to fight with them. I do hope Congress joins me. Instead of spending the coming months in a lot of phony political debates, focusing on the next election, I hope that we spend time focusing on middle class Americans and those struggling to get in the middle got a lot more work to do. Let's do it.
Thank you very much, everybody.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Thanks for the great job you did. Appreciate it. Proud of you. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
MALVEAUX: President Obama urging Congress to keep up the bipartisanship to go ahead and move forward on several measures that he believes will further improve the economy. He talked about things that could get done immediately, but there are a lot of Republicans who disagree with his approach. Some of them saying, preventing exporting jobs overseas as well as the Buffett Rule, the controversial Buffett Rule, which says that those making more than $1 million would be paying a tax rate of at least 30 percent.
We're going to have more of the president's plan and Republican reaction after the break.
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MALVEAUX: So is it wrong for colleges to consider race when accepting students? Well, one former high school graduate says yes, and she's taking her case against the University of Texas to the Supreme Court. Well, this fall the court's going to decide whether state-mandated affirmative action admission policies actually violate the rights of white applicants. The school defends its policies, saying that race is just one of many factors considered to create a diverse campus.
I want to bring in our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, on the phone from New York to talk a little bit about this.
First of all, Jeff, why is this so significant that the Supreme Court has decided to take up this case?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST & LEGAL ANALYST (via telephone): Oh, it's immensely significant, Suzanne, because this really does look like the beginning of the end of affirmative action in admissions. In 2003, the Supreme Court, in a famous decision written by Sandra Day O'Connor, said that the University of Michigan Law School could consider race as one factor among many. But if you look at how the court has changed, particularly the replacement of Samuel Alito, of Justice O'Connor, the court has moved to the more conservative direction. And it does look like there are five votes to overturn that decision and say that race may simply never be a factor.
MALVEAUX: How soon could this the impact whether or not students actually are able to apply to a university and a university takes race into consideration when they look at that applicant?
TOOBIN: Well, I mean, one of the interesting things here is when they schedule this case for argument, it is still technically possible that they could add it to this year's term, which would mean that it would be decided by June. Perhaps more likely, it would be argued after the summer. But, I mean, we're talking a matter of months in either case. Whether the decision is in June or in January, the important fact is that the decision is coming and it looks like race will not be allowed anymore.
MALVEAUX: And already, you've talked about previous decisions that have been made. Are we already seeing an impact at the universities in terms of diversities. Just how diverse the universities are, because of how this law has changed?
TOOBIN: I don't know how much there has been a change yet, because Justice O'Connor's decision from 2003 is the law and race is allowed to be one factor. But there is likely to be a major change if that is overturned, because many universities consider race as one factor. And if the court rules as the plaintiff in this case wants them to rule, that will be off-limits. And that could mean a significant change in the makeup of our public universities.
MALVEAUX: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you very much.
Obviously, a very significant case that the Supreme Court is going to weigh in on, and could affect an awful lot of students coming through the system.
I want to hear from you on a story that we actually told you about earlier. Should schoolteachers get free plastic surgeries? Nip/tucks paid for by taxpayers. Send us your thoughts. Facebook.com/suzanneCNN. We'll read them on the air, up next.
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MALVEAUX: All right. Free plastic surgery for teachers. It kind of sounds bizarre, but not if you live in Buffalo, New York. For the last 40 years, 40 years, teachers there have been getting the Hollywood star treatment on the taxpayers' dime. Last year, the district spent almost $6 million on facelifts, breast implants, a lot of nip/tucks going on.
So earlier we asked you if you thought schoolteachers should get free plastic surgery paid for by taxpayers. So you've been sounding off. Jessie and Suzy said, "Of course it should not be happening, but when something is free, there will be a line for it. This is an example of why states are broke".
Kyle wrote in, "Of course not. That's an absolute abuse of taxpayers' dollars and the practice should be stopped."
But Ryan points out, "it's in the contract that both parties agreed to. Blame the Buffalo teachers union and the New York Education Department for allowing this to continue."
And finally, Paulette says, "Teachers should have some perks. They're underpaid and constantly blamed for the entire education problem. It's time we focus on the positive things teachers do!"
All right, so what do you think? Let us know. Share your thoughts. Facebook.com/suzanneCNN. We're going to read some more on the air.
