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High Poll Numbers for Obama; Sen. Joni Ernst Delivers GOP Response Tonight; Gov. Jindal Stands Firm on No-Go Zones
Aired January 20, 2015 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The improving economy is lifting the President's poll numbers. For the first time in seven years a majority of Americans, 51 percent, have a positive view of the economy. But median family income is still where it was in 1995 leaving many feeling like we're living in one America with two economies.
MOHAMED A. EL-ERIAN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ALLIANZ: Because wages have stagnated, there is still a perception out there correctly so that this economy benefited Wall Street much more than Main Street.
ROMANS: Now Main Street is getting a boost from low gas. Prices that could put $140 billion back into American pockets this year. But the President didn't do that.
Presidents can't make gas prices go up and down.
TOM KLOZA, OIL PRICE INFORMATION SERVICE: No absolutely not. These are big, big, broad global themes that -- you know, they're not the gods of Mt. Olympus.
ROMANS: What the President can take credit for -- leading the economy out of the most epic recession since the great depression.
GREG VALLIERE, CHIEF POLITICAL STRATEGIST, POTOMAC RESEARCH GROUP: Obama deserves credit for sticking with a policy that placed a lot of emphasis on the Fed and interests rates and it's worked. You could say that Obama gets credit for staying the course, for not going for radical austerity which probably would have made things worse.
ROMANS: But don't expect streamers and balloons at the White House any time soon.
EL-ERIAN: We shouldn't be taking a victory lap because the world is getting more difficult. And we're going to have to do even better to maintain this recovery.
ROMANS: For President Obama, that means more work ahead to protect his economic legacy.
Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And President Obama isn't the only one focusing on the middle class.
Here's what Republican Mitt Romney told the Republican National Committee just this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I do want to mention three principles that I think should form part of the foundation of what we take to the American people. First, we have to make the world safer. Second, we have to make sure and provide opportunity for all Americans regardless of the neighborhood they live in. And finally, we have to lift people out of poverty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Lift people out of poverty. Pundits note snarkily that Romney may have some problems being taken seriously in his vow to fight poverty saying this infamous remark from 2012 could overshadow his goals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what. All right. There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they're entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing -- you name it. That's entitlement. Government should give it to them and they will vote for this President no matter what.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Romney prompting a strong reaction on both sides of the aisle. The Press Secretary for President Obama's 2012 campaign telling "Politico", quote, "Romney is 47 percent concerned about inequality. The other 53 percent of him would rather polish his car elevators."
Republican strategist Matt Dowd said, quote, "I think it's very problematic for Mitt Romney who has car elevators to run a campaign on poverty. That's not to say wealthy people can't talk about those issues. It's difficult."
Let's talk more about this. Hilary Rosen is a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist. Ford O'Connell is a Republican strategist, the chairman of the Civic Forum PAC and a former advisor to the McCain-Palin presidential campaign. Welcome to both of you.
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, Carol.
FORD O'CONNELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to see you.
COSTELLO: Good to see you both. Hilary, I know everybody is making fun of Mitt Romney but at least he's talking about the wage gap, at least he's acknowledging that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. What's wrong with that? ROSEN: Nothing is wrong with that. In fact, I think all Republicans
should talk about it. And they should also encourage our colleagues on Capitol Hill to raise the minimum wage, to pass the President's education plan, which would do the most of any program out there to get people ready for jobs in this new economy. To pass an infrastructure bill, which would help put the middle class back to work and fix our roads and bridges and airports.
So I think what we're going to hear from the President tonight is actually those big picture themes which is let's everybody be talking about what to do about those folks who have not benefited from this recovery.
And contrary to what I think some folks said on your earlier taped piece, the President is going to take some credit for things getting better. He's going to be positive. There is going to be a sense of a bit of a morning in America after this speech that we are doing really well and there's more to do but he needs Republicans to work with him to do it.
COSTELLO: Well --
O'CONNELL: Hilary, I find that quite humorous. Tonight the President is not interested in compromise, in finding common ground. He's interested in trolling Republicans and trying to again paint them as tools for the rich.
One would think after the historic midterm election we had where Republicans gained control of the Senate for the first time since 2006, and increased their lead in the House to a level we haven't seen since 1928, the President would be interested in finding common ground and actually improving economic mobility and stopping wage stagnation which has occurred under his taxing and regulating economy.
You guys basically under the delusion that we're one more tax hike away from prosperity and that's just not the case. I do tip my hat to the President though for basically highlighting what most Americans are concerned about and that's economic mobility and wage stagnation.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Well, Ford I will say -- I want to press Ford on this issue. I think that many middle class Americans and lower middle class Americans are having trouble even though the economy is getting better because the wage gap is huge. And Republicans are acknowledging that. Not just Mitt Romney but Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, right? But they've got to put forth ideas that the middle class can wrap their minds around and accept.
O'CONNELL: I totally agree with you. Let me say someone else is putting forth those initiatives and that's Marco Rubio. The problem here is that the President is basically putting forth a retread of his last five State of the Union speeches. I think he's identified the root cause himself -- but I don't think he's identified the root cause, I think he's identified the problem and he obviously needs to put forth real initiatives that are actually going to work. I do agree with you the Republicans need to do the same. Let me try one, I'm going to throw it right out there. And that's pass Simpson- Bowles. Something else we should worry about when it comes to the plight of the middle class is we should stop importing so much cheap foreign labor because it's really hurting wages in America.
So those are two things I would throw right out there that I think Hilary might agree with.
COSTELLO: And Hilary, I also will only say that President Obama will roll out these ideas knowing that Republicans don't like them. And he's rolling out these ideas at a time when Republicans control both Houses of Congress. He could have done this back in a day not so long ago when Democrats had control of Congress. Why didn't he force them to go through the legislature, in other words?
ROSEN: The truth is that there are some ideas that the President will have rolled out in the past week that have originated with Republicans. For instance, the President is going to call tonight for something that many Democrats won't even like, which is a lowering of the corporate tax rate. And that's a brave thing for Democrats to do.
So if Republicans respond the way Ford just did, which is trashing the President and criticizing everything he does, then that will end up being not a very productive year. If Republicans instead say, you know what? The President is trying to meet us partway. There are things we can work on together and let's do that. That's what the country wants to hear.
O'CONNELL: Wait a minute. I think that you have just taken what I said out of context. What the President is proposing, ok, particularly on capital gains, is not actually tax reform. He's talking about increasing rates and opening more loopholes and making it more complicated. The President is not interested in tax reform. Yes, he does talk about it but he has had opportunities whether it's Simpson-Bowles or other corporate tax reform to do this.
This is a situation where he's saying something good and it sounds great in front of the State of the Union but he has no intent to follow-through. I do think we should have corporate tax reform because I think it will help put America middle class back to work.
(CROSSTALK)
ROSEN: The President is giving out a program. He's laying out his values tonight. I don't think it's going to be policy heavy. I think it's going to be values heavy and the Republicans are going to have a choice whether they want to engage or whether they don't.
COSTELLO: All right. We're going to have to leave it there. Thanks to you both -- Hilary Rosen, Ford O'Connell. Many thanks.
O'CONNELL: Thank you.
COSTELLO: After the President's State of the Union address, the Republicans will use their stage to showcase a rising star. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa will deliver the Republican response. She's only been in office for a couple of weeks. Her victory in November claimed the seat long-held by Democrats. In fact, she ran on a platform of knowing how to trim the sacks in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JONI ERNST (R), IOWA: I'm Joni Ernest. I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm so when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: In all seriousness, the Iraq war veterans win helped push Republicans into gaining control of the Senate. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called Ernst the perfect messenger for the GOP. But delivering the Republican response is not going to be easy. There have been a lot of recent gaffes.
Let's look back at 2013 when Florida Senator Marco Rubio needed a bottle of water to get through his response. Actually I would not quantify it is a gaffe because that -- I don't know, he made the most of that. And good for him.
Remember, our special live coverage of the State of the Union address starts tonight 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
Before we go to break, Tom Foreman looks at whether the President lived up to last year's State of the Union to curb gun violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama has always made it clear that he would like to see some kind of legislation to curb gun violence particularly those mass shootings that make headlines now and then. And he brought it up in his last State of the Union.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I intend to keep trying with or without Congress to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, in our shopping malls or schools like Sandy Hook.
FOREMAN: Measures to limit gun ownership, expand background checks are imposed, new restrictions always have a tough time in Congress. There were some efforts in 2013 but they ultimately failed. So we would call this stalled but remember the President said with or without Congress he would do something. He did not. So we have to call this a broken promise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: They are the comments that had British Prime Minister David Cameron quote, "choking on his porridge" and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is standing by his claims that there are so-called no-go zones for non Muslims in Europe. Days ago a Fox News terrorism expert first made those claims. Fox has repeatedly apologized for those comments but as Max Foster found out, there are no apologies from Jindal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: Look, I heard it from folks here there are neighborhoods where women don't feel comfortable going in without veils. That's wrong. We all know there are neighborhoods where police are less likely to go into those neighborhoods.
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But you need to have proper sort of facts to back that up. I've lived here a long time. I don't know of any no-go zones.
JINDAL: Well, I did say so-called no-go zones. And I think that the radical left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem is not here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Jay Parini (ph) recently wrote a fiery op-ed for CNN entitled "Bobby Jindal doesn't know what he's talking about". He joins me now via Skype to discuss. Welcome.
JAY PARINI: Welcome. Thank you Carol for having me on.
COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. So even in that exchange with max foster, Bobby Jindal said he said so-called no-go zones. He never named a specific place where these no-go zones exist because frankly --
PARINI: It's because they don't exist. I was so embarrassed when I saw that clip on CNN yesterday. I write frequently for your CNN webpage opinion pieces. I was startled.
COSTELLO: I think we have Skype problems. All right. Jay -- I'm so sorry. We're going to fix our technical problems with Skype. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Morgan Spurlock is back. In the first episode of "INSIDE MAN" season 3, the Academy Award nominated director goes deep into the world of robotics to show us the cool, the cutting edge and the creepy. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel comfortable talking to me?
MORGAN SPURLOCK, CNN HOST: I feel a little weird because what happens is like there will be things that make the android look incredibly human like when you move the eyes. But then there are things that kind of give away the facade like movement of the mouth or the movement of the arms.
The minute all those things are fixed, it will be unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ok. That was really, really creepy.
SPURLOCK: So creepy.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: She looked real at first.
SPURLOCK: And then until the movements start happening and then it's like. But this one they're sitting there still and the eyes start moving, I mean it's a very strange thing to see in person.
COSTELLO: So what is she for?
SPURLOCK: So the idea right now is to start to create these robots that can allow you to be in two places at once. So if you are somewhere halfway around the world this robot could be in a meeting, could have a relationship with someone for you in this environment -- yes. That was the whole idea. And the ideas at certain points these will start to be able to think for themselves, talk for themselves, move around and we won't be put off by it because they look like us.
COSTELLO: You can actually have a robot that looks exactly like yourself in a meeting and you could program something that the robot will say in the meeting that you would have said.
SPURLOCK: Or you could be halfway around the world and just kind of be talking through that robot in the meeting and people just think they're talking to you.
COSTELLO: What's wrong with a cell phone?
SPURLOCK: Or a cell phone -- yes. Come on. We're trying to get past the cell phone. We're trying to get past the Skype and the selfies now. That's the idea.
COSTELLO: No, that's so scary because, of course, you know the next step is to create an android that can like feel and live like a human being and overtake the world.
SPURLOCK: And then the next thing you know, Skynet is real and we're running from them and it's a terrible, scary thing. That's the fear of it all. But we're not quite there yet. And I think that what you see in this episode is just how much we're already starting to depend on robots in our everyday life. That's the cool thing but it's the same part that's the one thing that makes us a little freaked out.
COSTELLO: Oh I'm freaked out.
So what else is on the agenda?
SPURLOCK: For the season?
COSTELLO: That's less creepy -- yes. SPURLOCK: That's less creepy. We have some good stuff this season. Like one of the things which a lot of people talk about is bit coin. So what we do is we break down the whole idea of bit coin. Is it really valuable? Is it one of those things that's just going to -- again going to cause a big crash to our stock market and to our financial system. That's a great episode.
We talk about love in the 21st century. Everybody wants to find love but most of us can't. It's tough. We talk about how easy is it to find love especially with technology now. This season is a great season. I'm proud of it.
COSTELLO: I can't wait. Morgan Spurlock, thanks for being with me. I appreciate it.
SPURLOCK: You look not creepy. You look fantastic.
COSTELLO: Thank goodness. That robot was freaking me out. Thanks so much.
SPURLOCK: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Don't forget an all-new season of CNN's "INSIDE MAN" kicks off this Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
Ok, back to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. He is standing by his claims that there are so-called no-go zones for non Muslims in Europe. So let's get back Jay Parini. We've got our Skype problems worked out. And Jay Parini you were just set to deliver a fiery line so take it away.
PARINI: Ok. Can you actually see me and hear me now?
COSTELLO: Yes, sir.
PARINI: Good. I was worked up yesterday when I read that Governor Jindal had made these really absurd claims that there are these no-go zones in Europe. He was playing off the Fox News story just a few days before where Steve Emerson, a terrorist expert, said that even the big city of Birmingham was a place where non-assimilationist people couldn't go. You had to be a Muslim to live in Birmingham. It was comical.
And to see Jindal, who is supposedly a major American politician, governor of a state, a possible contender for the presidency in two years, making really embarrassing and absurd statements abroad causing the English prime minister to almost throw up his porridge, had me in a bit of pique yesterday.
And I think most Americans should be embarrassed when our politicians really go abroad and say idiotic things. I mean what he said about no-go zones, they don't exist. It's completely insane. And the British, there are almost four million Muslims in Britain, and they have actually been pretty well assimilated.
I was just read a study which suggested that whereas 50 percent of actual Anglo-Britons don't feel identified with Britain anymore, 86 percent of Muslims living in Britain feel proud to be British and identify with Great Britain.
So this is just -- I mean embarrassing to see a man like Governor Jindal really say idiotic things in public and embarrassing things that actually do harm.
COSTELLO: Why do you think he's sticking by -- as he was talking to Max Foster and also to Wolf Blitzer, he couldn't cite a single place by name where these no-go zones existed. And he kept going back to this police officer -- this nameless police officer who gave an interview to some British newspaper --
PARINI: He's living in a -- he's living in a fantasy world. He could not cite any instances for the simple reason there are no places where Sharia law trumps the law of the land anywhere in Europe. There are no places where non Muslims are simply barred away and where police won't go because they are so afraid of the Islamic population.
This is the kind of Islamaphobia and scare-mongering which actually causes great harm because it makes people -- it gives them a simplistic idea about how we deal with terrorism instead of having a very sensible long-term plan and understanding that this is going to be with us for decades to come and we have to understand that most Muslims are not scary jihadists who want to blow us up.
Jindal is playing off a fantasy that may play well with his constituents in Louisiana -- I hope not. It certainly plays well on Fox News where I think he keeps -- he probably imagines he has a Fox News camera on him all the time. Therefore he can say things that are in that zone of disconnect between language and reality where fox news seems to live and find its audience.
COSTELLO: Well, I'm sure that Bobby Jindal knew CNN cameras were pointed at him when he made these comments and he seemed sincerely concerned. In fact, he talked about in his state of Louisiana they passed a law against Sharia law.
PARINI: Well, what an absurd think to pass a law against Sharia law when there's nowhere in the world outside of fierce right wing Islamic states, places like ISIS -- places like that, where Sharia law actually is the law of the land. Especially there are places but they are Islamic countries. I mean it's an absurd idea.
He looked to me in that interview by the way with CNN like a deer caught in the headlights. He was clearly embarrassed. Your reporter was pressing him as he should have, to say ok, be specific. Can you name any places where there are no-go zones? He simply said I stand by my message which is just completely absurd.
I mean he's obviously an ill-informed politician. I read that he's on a fact-finding tour of Europe and I'm just hoping that in his ten days in Europe he actually finds a few facts that would probably help him in his future political life.
COSTELLO: I have to leave it there. Jay Parini, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
PARINI: Lovely to be on. Thanks for calling in.
COSTELLO: You're quite welcome.
Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.
NEWSROOM continues with John Berman after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Shots fired at a U.S. embassy vehicle in Yemen, a country in chaos. Are U.S. interests and personnel safe?
