Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
A School Collapses in Haiti, Killing and Trapping Children; Hurricane Paloma Now a Category 4 and Heading for Cuba; What Paloma Did to the Cayaman Islands; Barack Obama and His Team Begin the Transition to the White House
Aired November 08, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: A desperate search for children trapped under the rubble after a school collapsed, the death toll is rising, it's getting close to 100 now.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the Caribbean, Hurricane Paloma, now a category 4 storm. Forecasters say the extremely dangerous hurricane is headed straight for Cuba. We have a live report from Grand Cayman; that's ahead.
HOLMES: Tonight, coming from the CNN Center, this is the "CNN NEWSROOM" for this Saturday, November 8. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes, good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
We have got a lot on our plate today, so let's get you caught up from news around the world.
First up, grief in Haiti and it is growing. Officials are now putting the death toll from that school collapse at 82 after crews recovered the bodies of 21 more victims. Officials say they were found in one classroom. And almost 24 hours after the accident, they are searching for dozens of other missing children, kindergarteners and teenagers.
CNN's Tom Watkins has more on this tragedy unfolding in a neighborhood near Port Au Prince.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM WATKINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This pile of rocks and dust was a multi-story reinforced concrete school house until 10:00 Friday morning. That's when it collapsed. Some 700 people, kindergarten through high school attended College la Promesse, the "Promised School."
No one knows how many were inside when it transformed into a tomb. Rescuers using pick axes, hammers or just their hands pulled many out alive; but scores of others did not survive.
The president of Haiti's Red Cross organized rescue efforts over the phone.
MICHAELE GEDEON, HAITIAN RED CROSS: On the phone, you can hear so many, so many children crying, crying and saying, this one is dead, that one is dead. We are trying, my rescuers. There are many now, many, many. They are trying to calm down the kids.
WATKINS: This woman, who could not find her four children, could not be calmed. Rescuers vowed to work around the clock. The U.S. government sent a search and rescue team of 38 people, four dogs and 15 tons of equipment.
Tom Watkins, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Hurricane Paloma getting stronger now, described as an extremely dangerous storm. Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on this storm for us; this sucker got big and strong and scary pretty quick.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it did. It moved into an area with very little sheer, that's strong winds aloft it could sometimes rip these systems apart. It almost moved into an area of very warm water. So with minimal sheer and with plenty of warm water, that is like jet fuel to an engine. You see the results here in parts of -- this is not far from Georgetown, believe it or not, in the Caymans.
They're actually going to have better conditions as the storm pulls away from the Caymans now it's drawing a beat on parts of Cuba.
Let's go back to the weather computer and give you the very latest in terms of winds, sustained, 140 miles per hour. This is the strongest storm on the planet; some gusts of up to 165. The storm is not staying still. It is moving east/northeast at 9 miles per hour.
The latest path we have from the National Hurricane Center shows the storm making its way onshore tomorrow. It's expected to weaken a little possibly to a category 2 storm.
But then, you'll notice very little movement at all, once it gets to the north of Cuba and just south of the Bahamas. In fact, it's just going to meander and as we get into say Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, hardly any movement, just kind of jumbles up.
It's going to stay away from the main land of the United States, or at least that's the way it looks right now. And the reason why it's going to stay away is pretty simple. You have got a frontal boundary; this one has been zipping across the U.S. It's been providing plenty of snowfall in parts of the northern plain; some places up four feet of snow.
But now there is a light dusting through the portions of the western Great Lakes; scattered showers in Michigan, including the Upper Peninsula. And here is that frontal boundary. It's going to provide some showers to the Carolinas but still right behind, a lot of dry, cool air for the southeast. So although temperatures, say in Georgia, have been above normal, they are going to start cooling down.
That is the latest we've got for you. Got to wrap it up, let's send you back to the news desk.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds. Appreciate you. We do hope to actually talk to an official from the Cayman Islands here in just a little while about what is happening there on the islands. So Reynolds we appreciate it.
NGUYEN: In the meantime thought, a new search this morning underway for a missing toddler in central Florida. I want to give you a look at some of those folks gathering in Orlando. Here is a live picture of them. They have been expecting thousands of volunteers to help out this weekend. Here is, really, a bunch of cars that have lined up, part of a caravan that will be traveling out to the search area.
So far, no sign of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony; she has been missing since July. Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, facing murder charges. She is also accused of lying to investigators looking into her daughter's disappearance. She has pleaded not guilty.
Here is something that is hard to believe. This is a story. An eight-year-old boy is accused of killing his father and another man in the eastern Arizona community of St. Johns. Police say a 22-caliber rifle was used in Wednesday's shooting. Remember, eight-year-old boy accused in this.
Yesterday, a judge ordered a psychological evaluation. The county attorney in St. Johns says the boy has never been in trouble with the law or at school.
HOLMES: Guilty on all 54 counts. That was the verdict in a long-awaited trial in the 2005 court house shooting rampage that you'll likely remember. Brian Nichols, there he is. He didn't show much emotion as he was convicted of killing four people.
The 54 counts however come from other charges associated with his escape including felony murder, aggravated assault, hijacking, escape, armed robbery, among others. The 36-year-old Nichols claimed he was insane and delusional when he shot a judge, a court reporter and two law enforcement officers.
Jurors return Monday to begin the sentencing phase of this trial. Nichols could face the death penalty.
To another trial now, at least one that's not going to happen for O.J. Simpson; dealing with some news today he really didn't want to hear. A Nevada judge has denied Simpson's request for a new trial and a bail hearing. The same judge was on the bench last month when Simpson was convicted of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint. Sentencing is set for December 5th. However, he could still appeal his conviction.
NGUYEN: Barack Obama's transition team hits the ground running. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Chicago. She has been working around the clock just as well as this team. It seems like, Suzanne, that the transition team has really moved into the place very quickly. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Betty, there is a lot of work to be done but they feel they can do that in the 70 plus days that he has to get ready. Barack Obama delivered the Democratic radio address this morning.
He pretty much has a down day. He's going to be spending a well-deserved time with his wife, Michelle, and his two daughters. The transition time, this of course we don't expect personnel announcements today but they had a whirlwind of a week.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Capping off a historic week, Barack Obama held his first news conference as the president-elect. But after 21 months of bashing President Bush along with his opponent, John McCain, Obama was uncharacteristically deferential.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has only one government and one president at one time. And until January 20th of next year, that government is the current administration.
MALVEAUX: While Obama said Americans face the greatest economic challenge of their lifetime, he made it clear until he becomes president, the responsibility is still on Mr. Bush.
OBAMA: I've spoken to President Bush. I appreciate his commitment to ensuring that his economic policy team keeps us fully informed as developments unfold. Immediately after I become president, I'm going to confront this economic crisis head on.
MALVEAUX: Surrounded by his top-level team of economic advisors, including former treasury secretaries, governors and Federal Reserve chairs, Obama urged Congress to support his $175 billion economic stimulus package before he takes office.
OBAMA: If it does not get done in the lame-duck session, it will be the first thing I get done as President of the United States.
MALVEAUX: But not president yet, Obama is cautious. While he campaigned as the candidate who would talk to America's enemies, he demurred as to how to respond to a letter of congratulations from Iran's president.
OBAMA: Obviously, how we approach and deal with a country like Iran is not something that we should, you know, simply do in a knee- jerk fashion. I want to be very careful that we are sending the right signals to the world as a whole, that I am not the president and I won't be until January 20th.
MALVEAUX: January 20th will usher in a new First Family and the prospect of Obama's two young daughters getting a new puppy provided a moment of levity. OBAMA: Malia is allergic so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic. On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog. But obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts, like me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Betty, he said "mutts like me."
A lot of excitement and a lot of talk about who is going to be the first dog, what kind of dog they actually choose; that's all the buzz here in Chicago.
There seems to be quite a few places but we know that Barack Obama as well as Michelle will be at the White House on Monday. They'll be visiting with President Bush and the First Lady. They are going to get a tour of the residence.
And then we are also told that Barack Obama will sit down with President Bush and he will be briefed. They will talk about the serious issues, like the financial crisis as well as the war in Iraq -- Betty.
NGUYEN: They are getting right into it.
And you are right. People are so interested about the dog, what dog are they going to pick. It has been a topic and everyone's talking.
MALVEAUX: Everybody's talking about the dog. It's number one on the Barack Obama website. Everybody is talking about what kind of dog these guys are going to get. It should be real interesting when it happens.
NGUYEN: We will see if they'll form some kind of a team to help decide. It's a big decision for that family, especially for the little girls involved. All right thank you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: That's a big decision.
NGUYEN: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Thanks Betty.
HOLMES: We want to turn you back now to Hurricane Paloma; that's suddenly been getting stronger. Big storm now; it has hit the Cayman Islands.
We want to get a first person account of what's happening there on Cayman Islands from Kurt Tibbetts who's the leader of the government business for the Cayman Islands, actually in Grand Cayman right now.
Mr. Tibbetts, I appreciate you giving us some time here. Our meteorologist, Reynolds here told us that you all actually got hit by the weakest part of the storm. But from where you are, did it seem like there was anything weak about this storm? How bad was it?
KURT TIBBETTS, LEADER, CAYMAN ISLANDS GOVERNMENT BUSINESS: Well, here in Grand Cayman, it certainly didn't seem weak to us. But at the same point in time, in tracking, we were grateful to God for the slight shift that it made early in the evening yesterday. Moved a little bit further to the northeast of the island of Grand Cayman, which means we were spared the heaviest of the wind speed and also storm surge.
We had hurricane force winds into the night and into the very early hours of the morning. But it abated early, early this morning. We are out and we have already made assessments here in Grand Cayman Islands. And certainly, it is not as bad as we feared. We will be fine in short order.
Unfortunately, Hurricane Paloma has moved on to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman and that shift in the direction, that slight shift has caused the hurricane to literally move straight over both of those islands. And even as we speak now, they are still experiencing hurricane force winds.
HOLMES: Yes, Mr. Tibbetts, you certainly said, thank goodness, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But still, what are some of the problems that it did cause? You said you didn't get that big storm surge either. Do you have a lot of damage from winds? Do you have a lot flooding? Also, what about power outages?
TIBBETTS: We had some power outages here in Grand Cayman. But as we speak, most of that work is underway. And some is already completed. So before the day is out, we will be back with full power. Our city water will be back up and running during the course of the day also. So we are not in bad shape. I have to tell you, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, they're taking a battering.
HOLMES: Last thing here sir before I let you go. Can you tell us is there word of any injuries or even deaths associated with this storm?
TIBBETTS: Well here in Grand Cayman, there is no word of injuries. In Cayman Brac, we are not sure yet because the assessment teams cannot really go out until a little while from now when the wind abates a little bit more. We are praying to God that there will be no injuries.
We are resilient; we're pretty used to these conditions occurring, because of our geographical location. But as of now, I don't have any official report. We are just praying and hoping that all will go well with that and we will simply have to look to the infrastructure repairs and whatever else will have to be done over in those two islands.
HOLMES: Well, I certainly hope you don't get any reports about injuries or deaths associated with this storm. Again, Kurt Tibbetts, the head of government business there in the Cayman Islands, sir we appreciate your time. Thank you so much -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Thank you T.J.
Now that the election is over, we can finally answer this question for you. Were the polls accurate? Well, the numbers, they are striking and we are going to give you a reality check.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: OK, that's kind of cool. That is somebody's yard. In Memphis, Tennessee -- some of my folks over here -- homeowners spelling out his sentiments in his lawn. Yes, you see, there it says, President Obama. Don't know how high the grass had to get, we don't have a close up shot to see exactly what happened. But that takes some time and effort.
Memphis, I think, is still pretty warm there. That's just pretty good.
NGUYEN: That was good. I don't know how you map that out.
HOLMES: I don't know how he did it. But President Obama -- I don't know what the McCain supporter next door feels about it. Is he still working on the yard?
NGUYEN: It looks like it. Someone is.
HOLMES: Is that a robe. This story is going in the wrong direction. But we just wanted to show you the video.
NGUYEN: It was great, nonetheless.
Last week, we did talk about the Asian-American vote and the affect that it might have on this election. I went to Los Angeles, home of the country's largest concentration of Asian-Americans, to get their impressions and to find out if there is indeed a trend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FELIX GUO, RADIO ANNOUNCER: Ever since Bill Clinton got elected, in each subsequent election, the share of Asian-Americans voting Democratic has increased.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yes and trending to the Democrats. So how are they leaning this time around? Well, a pre-election poll found 52 percent were for Barack Obama, 27 percent for John McCain, with 20 percent still undecided a week before voting. Now, that is pretty close to how it turned out.
The undecideds split down the middle, 10 percent going to Obama giving him 62 percent of the vote. John McCain got 35 percent.
HOLMES: Now before the election, a lot of questions out there about the polls. There were a lot out there. Were they going to be accurate? Were they leaving out a lot of people? NGUYEN: A lot of people talked about that Bradley effect. Well we now know and Josh Levs has been looking at these polls and seeing what they tell us now that we have the raw numbers from the election.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's pretty impressive stuff. You know what? Our polls were right on. I've got to show you this.
Let's go straight to this graphic; I want to show you these numbers. Check this out. Our final poll which came out the Sunday before the election from CNN Opinion Research Corporation; 53 percent Obama, 46 percent McCain. And the actual vote turned out the exact same way. Now you can see those numbers behind me here at cnn.com/elections, it has a lot of these numbers.
What I also want to do is show you the individual states. It's not fancy. I'm just going to scroll through some numbers because I want you to see it. Let's zoom in.
This is the best way we can do this. These are the national numbers. And as I scroll down, we are going to see almost everything was the same. Our final poll in Arizona, together with "Time" and Opinion Research Corporation, one point off and it's consistently like this.
Florida, we're virtually exactly with the final numbers. Nevada I want to show you. Here Barack Obama did a little bit better than we predicted. We had him at 52 percent. He ended up with 55 percent.
And if we scroll down to one more, North Carolina, you'll see here, he did a little worse. We had him at 52 percent. He got 50 percent. We had McCain at 46 percent. He got basically 50 percent of that vote.
In all other cases, we are pretty much exactly spot on. What does this tell us? It tells us a couple of things. First of all, it suggests that the samples of people that we spoke to did indeed represent the voters who ended up turning out.
And also there is no sign nationally of -- Betty, what you were just talking about -- that Bradley effect. The idea that people would tell pollsters one thing but when they're inside the booth would not vote for a black man. Certainly on a national level, there is no sign that that happened in any way large enough to impact this race -- Betty.
NGUYEN: That is really interesting to see because there was so much talk about it early on. A lot of people were wondering if it would, indeed, hold true but in this case, absolutely not.
You touched on something that I had talked to you about T.J. Once the election is over, you want to know, were our polls right? And like you said, we were spot on.
LEVS: Yes, ours were right. Not everyone's but ours were great. They did a great job, our polling team, great job.
NGUYEN: All right, and you're part of the "Truth Squad" so that is the truth, right? You're not making this up.
LEVS: That is the truth. And the squad is still around.
NGUYEN: Thanks.
HOLMES: Well, McCain and Obama, they were actually hijacked. Somebody broke into their computers this past summer.
NGUYEN: Yes, it wasn't just a weekend hacker. We're going to show you this story of how they got a computer hack job.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Children are vulnerable to identity theft. An alert sent to parents in Arizona. A storage facility in Phoenix was broken into and missing is a computer hard drive with the personal information of about 40,000 children; everything an identity thief would need.
So here is some advice for parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD DAVIS, CEO LIFELOCK: Contacting the Social Security administration and asking for a work history for their child. You want the answer to be one does not exist. That's the right answer. But you want to regularly ask at least once a year. Make that request so that if something has happened, you detect it early.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Although, they have issued this warning to parents, officials think that the thieves may not even know what they really have.
HOLMES: Well, the Secret Service, of course, kept a close watch on the presidential candidates during the grueling campaign season. But apparently, nobody was keeping an eye on their computers and trying to protect them from international computer hackers.
CNN's Brian Todd explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the midst of what was shaping up as a tight race, a major security breach of both presidential campaigns. In mid-summer, computers at the headquarters of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were hacked by a foreign government or organization. That's according to a source with knowledge of the incidents who told CNN the intrusions were sophisticated and appeared aimed at gaining information about policy in order to have leverage in future dealings with whoever was elected.
We asked an internet security expert, how would this foreign entity get into the campaign systems. RAY DICKENSON, INTERNET SECURITY EXPERT: If I want to penetrate an organization, I'm going to send e-mails to members of that organization. It will be no problem at all for me to find somebody who is gullible enough to click on a link. Once they do that, I know that the computer I have gotten on to. I know them, I'm inside that organization. And now I can start to spread within that organization.
TODD: The story was first reported by "Newsweek" whose reporter Daren Briscoe was embedded with the Obama campaign. Briscoe found out about the breaches not long after they occurred. But under an agreement with the Obama team reached before the campaign started, he was not able to report any information until after the election.
Briscoe reports technology staff at the Obama campaign had detected what they first thought was a virus put in place to steal passwords or credit card numbers. Then --
DAREN BRISCOE, NEWSWEEK: The FBI and Secret Service showed up at campaign headquarters and announced to them that they have a much bigger problem than they actually understand. The following day, the campaign gets a call from Josh Bolten at the White House and he says pretty much the same thing, "Look, you have a serious problem and you need to deal with it."
TODD: Neither the FBI nor the Secret Service would comment on the story. It is believed that both campaign's headquarters were hacked into at about the same time last summer.
We are told by a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation that when both campaigns were approached by federal authorities with information on this hacking, they both hired private companies that were able to mitigate the situation.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: It has been called the most dangerous place on earth.
HOLMES: The clock is ticking on Pakistan even before Barack Obama takes office.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Heartbreak in Haiti; officials have pulled 21 more bodies from the rubble of that collapsed school. So that brings the death toll now to 82 and dozens of children still missing.
Here's what officials are telling us about the accident. They say the three story church-run school that sits on top of the hill in a neighborhood near Port-Au-Prince suddenly gave way yesterday morning. They're not sure why yet, but we're told that about 700 children were at the school either playing in classroom or outside when this happened.
A U.S. search team and rescue team is en route to Haiti to help look for those who may be trapped underneath all that rubble. We're looking at some pictures from Fairfax, Virginia, where the crews were packing up for the mission last night. That team consists of about 38 people and four dogs. Now they are expected to arrive in the region today.
HOLMES: Well, one of the sons of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has been denied asylum in Spain for the second time this week. Omar bin Laden has left that country today. Officials there in Spain says his asylum request did not meet standards. His lawyer, however, says that his asylum request was denied because of political reasons. Now, Omar bin Laden has said he hasn't seen his father since 2000 and has publicly called on him to abandon terrorism.
We turn to some weather now. We are watching the path of the storm this morning. That storm, Hurricane Paloma, now a Category 4. Sustained winds, in excess of 130 miles-per-hour right now. Reynolds Wolf, tell us where is this thing headed and who needs to be watching out?
WOLF: You know, I would say right now it would probably be the people in Cuba, also parts of the Caymans have just been rocked at this point in terms of the strong winds of this incredible storm. This is the strongest storm on the planet, by the way. Winds of 140 miles-per-hour gusting to 165 miles-per-hour.
It's past Grand Cayman. Now, Little Cayman, Cayman Banks, only about 80 miles separate the span, now moving over towards Cuba I would say by early tomorrow morning. The storm should be coming along shore. It is expected to weaken a little bit. In fact, the latest forecast we have from the National Hurricane Center brings it from a Category 4 to a Category 2 by early tomorrow morning. And then notice, barely any movement as we go from Monday all the way to Thursday. So you're going to remain just to the south of the Bahamas. Very rough wave action, no question.
Certainly some cloudy skies, a lot of rain for parts of the Bahamas. So any travel plans you have there, you might want to call ahead. But in terms of inspecting the U.S. looks like the main land is going to be OK for the time being. And the reason why is because of this big area of low pressure and this frontal boundary that continues to march its way up to the east. It is going to bring some scattered showers to parts of the Carolinas.
In fact this morning, as we make our way right up the Eastern Seaboard from Savannah, back to just the east of Charlotte this morning and towards the Outer Banks, we are seeing those scattered showers. And also in upstate New York and back into Pennsylvania, we have seen the rain drops. But in the western half of the Great Lakes, it has been mainly a snow event, snow falling right now near Green Bay. South of Milwaukee, we had some snowflakes.
But right now, things are beginning to dry out just a little bit. Also, very breezy conditions. I wouldn't be surprised if we have some white-out spots, possibly white-out conditions closer as you get closer to Oshkosh. That is the latest in the forecast. We have got more coming up ahead. But now, let's send it back to you, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, we will see you then. Rey, we appreciate you.
NGUYEN: Well, a massive volunteer effort is getting underway in Central Florida this morning. Want you to take a look at some of the thousand of volunteers gathering right now in Orlando. They are taking part in this search today for Caylee Anthony. The missing 2- year-old has not been seen since July. A specialized search team from Texas is coordinating the efforts today. Now her mother, Casey Anthony, is facing first-degree murder charges. She has pleaded not guilty.
Barack Obama, taking a bit of a break today. One day after his first news conference as president-elect, he is just hanging out at home in Chicago with no public events. But, there is word that he is still working. That word coming from Poland's president, who says on his Web site, he talked on the phone with President-elect Obama. He says they discussed the missiles shields and says Obama intends to continue plans for an anti-missiles shield in Eastern Europe.
HOLMES: The economy, mortgage crisis, the Iraq war, Barack Obama inherits a load of problems when he takes office. But experts say the biggest worry of them all may be Pakistan, a nuclear power that is teetering on chaos. Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has this memo to the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mr. President, there is a reason Pakistan was the first stop for General David Petraeus after taking over the U.S. Central Command. It's help is crucial to turning the tide in Afghanistan. Pakistan's newly- elected government is fuming about CIA air strikes in its ungoverned tribal areas. Recently, General Petraeus admitted to CNN he got an earful in that first meeting with Pakistan's leaders.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: We got certain messages with each of those with whom we talked today. And some of those were very clear. And we have to take those on board.
MCINTYRE: Pakistan says it's desire to remain a U.S. ally was severely undercut by the Bush administration's support for former dictator Pervez Musharraf. It handed al Qaeda and the Taliban a winning argument.
HASSAN HAQQANI, PAKISTAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: The jihadist groups in Pakistan were able to make the argument that fighting the jihadists is essentially an American war and Pakistan is just being America's lucky.
MCINTYRE: In the range of problems facing the new president, where does Pakistan rank?
HARLAN ULLMAN, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: In terms of foreign policy, it is number one.
MCINTYRE: Harlan Ullman is a military thinker who famously coined the phrase "shock and awe," though he claims the strategy was bungled in Iraq, now Ullman is focused on Pakistan where he sees potential disaster.
ULLMAN: You could see partition, you could see civil war, you can see a failed state. My view is, we have about six months to get our collective acts together.
MCINTYRE: Ullman advises stopping and then better coordinating American cross-border attacks. But the more immediate problem he suggests is Pakistan's precarious economy.
ULLMAN: They cut its food subsidies and its energy subsidies to reduce its budget deficit. As a result, you've got people starving. You've got riots in Karachi.
MCINTYRE: Ullman says an immediate investment of about $10 billion, a tiny fraction of the trillion dollar U.S. financial bailout could go a long way to shore up a key ally.
So, Mr. President, the U.S. intelligence community has prepared a list of foreign leaders who might be calling and what they might want. Expect Pakistan to be near the top of that list with its hand out for more money and a little more understanding.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, so Pakistan may be near the top of that list. But let's face it, President-elect Obama is walking into office with plenty on his plate. Allan Lichtman is a presidential historian and history professor at American University and joins us now live from Washington. Thanks for being with us.
PROF. ALLAN LICHTMAN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: My pleasure.
NGUYEN: Well you know, it seems like the Obama transition team was at the ready right on election night, ready to spring into action as soon as possible. You know, how long does it take for a candidate, now president-elect, to get that transition team in place? Is that something you do way before election night?
LICHTMAN: If you want a good transition, you want to do it way before election night. You do that if you are a Democrat and you want to be a Franklyn Delano Roosevelt and not a Jimmy Carter, who had a very rocky transition.
Roosevelt, months before his election put together his brains trust, his Columbia University professors who are thinking big and who shaped what became Roosevelt's new deal even before the election took place. That's a good transition.
Roosevelt in 100 days past 15 major bills. Another lesson of transition, when you get into office. Strike early. Don't wait for the opposition to consolidate and organize. Don't wait for buyer's remorse to set in with the public.
NGUYEN: Yes, we saw on election night on his speech, Obama did not seem like he was prepared to sit around and be excited just about the win and wait for things to play out. He was at the ready to take on everything that's on his plate. And now, though, when he with are looking at this transition team, a lot of people are wondering about the inner workings of it. What do they do exactly? Everything from what, help select personnel, to I don't know, ordering office furniture? What exactly do they do?
LICHTMAN: Right, as John McCain was saying during the campaign, they measure drapes for the Oval Office. No, they do two critical things. Of course, the first is all of the essential personnel decisions. It is not just the Cabinet, although that is most important.
It is hundreds of other officials that you are going to put throughout the federal government. It is U.S. attorneys in all of the states. Then, the second thing they do is prepare for policy. Kind of a model transition in that regard was John F. Kennedy, a breakthrough transition.
NGUYEN: I was going to ask you and you have said that Obama's team does remind you of Kennedy's transition team. How so?
LICHTMAN: Very, very much. In place early, very substantive. Both kind of old Washington hands and new young brains. And what Kennedy did, he had task forces on every critical area of policy that he would be facing once he became elected. So he already had very specific policy blueprints once he stepped into office. Now he had some trouble putting some of that policy in effect because he didn't have a very sympathetic Congress. And that's the next thing you have got to do in the transition, smooth the way to Congress. You have got some pretty big egos there in Congress.
NGUYEN: You have got a lot to do as well. I mean, we're facing a financial crisis right now. Boy, you have really broken it down, the inner workings of this transition team. We do appreciate it. Allan Lichtman, with American University, thanks for your time.
LICHTMAN: Any time Betty, take care.
NGUYEN: T.J.?
HOLMES: All right, immature, unprofessional jerks. Sarah Palin responding to several unflattering stories, taking shots at people in her own party.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, Sarah Palin did a lot of lashing out during the campaign season, a lot of it directed at Barack Obama. Well now that the election is over, she is lashing out again. But this time at Republicans, specifically at former campaign aides of John McCain. NGUYEN: Gotten kind of interesting lately. Back home in Alaska, she is responding to stories attributed to some of the aids. Now those supposedly behind-the-scene stories, well, they haven't been painting her in a very favorable light. So, she spoke to our Gary Tuchman in Anchorage and had some pretty harsh words.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no question that they did not put their names forward. And most -- I think a lot of Americans consider that cowardly. There's no question about it.
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R) ALASKA: I do, I consider it cowardly.
TUCHMAN: So regarding these allegations, which I don't think -- my colleagues didn't make it up. They heard it from people who said, "You can't use our name," regarding geography things about Africa and about NAFTA. Are they not true? Are they misinterpreted?
PALIN: It's not true. And I do remember having a discussion about NAFTA, as we talked about Alaska's relationship with Canada and how we, heaven forbid we go in and just unilaterally think that we're going to renegotiate NAFTA, as it had appeared that Barack Obama, his position was, yes, he wanted to go renegotiate.
I remember having a discussion with a couple of debate preppers. So if it came from one of those debate preppers, you know, that's curious. But having a discussion about NAFTA, not, "Oh, my goodness. I don't know who's a part of NAFTA."
So no, I think that, if there are allegation based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about NAFTA. And about the continent versus the country, when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context. And that is -- that's cruel. It's mean-spirited. It's immature. It's unprofessional. And those guys are jerks if they came away with it, taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It's not fair and not right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Jerks. And that was on camera. Would like to see what she might be saying off camera. But our Gary Tuchman getting that for us.
Also, Joe the Plumber, we remember this guy.
NGUYEN: How could we not?
HOLMES: Famously had that incident, Barack Obama said, I'm going to spread the wealth around. Well Joe is spreading some of his wealth. New court documents show that Samuel Wurzelbacher is his name, Joe the Plumber, he has spread some of that wealth to the IRS. He has settled a $1,200 tax bill that he had in Ohio.
It was a lien that was against him, has been lifted now. Joe the Plumber was thrust into the limelight, of course, during that incident right there when Senator -- when presidential hopeful John McCain said he represented people with concerns about the Obama tax plan. Well for more political news and notes, be sure to click on CNNPolitics.com. Still, your home for politics.
NGUYEN: OK, wi-fi is going airborne and some airlines are getting on board. Richelle Carey has the latest on how you can stay connected after takeoff when you are on the go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHELLE CAREY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You may soon be able to log on in flight.
CHRIS MCGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: Airlines are starting to roll out new wi-fi service. Which means that passengers with laptops and PDAs will be able to access the Internet in flight and also have access to their e-mail. Signals from the on board system are transmitted to a network with towers on the ground. So the connection is almost seamless.
CAREY: With a click and a fee of about $10 to $13, you will be your surfing the Web in no time, but not without restrictions.
MCGINNIS: Airlines are going to be able to deny access to certain sites like Skype or Vonage. They are also mulling the idea of restricting access to adult entertainment sites.
CAREY: If using the service, McGinnis says to buckle up for privacy.
MCGINNIS: I would suggest getting something called a 3m privacy filter. Now this prevents people from doing it on the side.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. We know the housing market is pretty tough these days.
NGUYEN: Very difficult.
HOLMES: Barack Obama has just got a deal of a lifetime. He has found a place to stay rent free for the next four years.
NGUYEN: Well, some of us are kind of paying for it.
HOLMES: Some of us. But he has a big new White House he's going to be moving into.
NGUYEN: We're going to check out some of the changes in store for the new first family. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Some people can't wait for years, can't even wait for months, maybe for days for something to happen, especially those people who are flirting with foreclosure. So what can they expect from the new president? CNN's Allan Chernoff takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Aoah and Equintall (ph) Middleton are fighting foreclosure on their home after cancer treatment expenses for their eight-year-old daughter forced them to miss mortgage payments. They voted for Barack Obama, now they are hoping to get help from the president-elect.
AOAH MIDDLETON, FIGHTING FORECLOSURE: I would like for Barack Obama to find some way to, you know, bail the homeowners out of this situation. My husband and I work, and we feel that if you are able to work, you should have a home. You should have a backyard.
CHERNOFF: Obama may help the Middle tons. He wants banks to give a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. He wants to create a foreclosure- prevention fund and allow bankruptcy judges to make mortgages easier to pay off.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Make no mistake, we must do more to help innocent home buyers.
CHERNOFF (On camera): Beyond addressing the mortgage crisis, president-elect Obama says he will take quick action to help Americans who are suffering from the economic slump.
(Voice over): The Obama plan calls for extending unemployment benefits. Temporarily exempting those benefits from taxes, emergency loans for small businesses, and a tax credit for every new job a company creates. Barack Obama says he will keep a close watch on the bailout program to help banks that invested in risky mortgages.
OBAMA: I support the Treasury's effort to buy up troubled mortgages, but we need to do it in a responsible way.
CHERNOFF: Aoah Middleton, though, does not expect immediate results from Obama.
MIDDLETON: It took us a couple of years to get into this mess. So it is not going the overnight, so, I am willing to wait to see what Obama will do.
CHERNOFF (on camera): But for your home? Do you have a couple of years?
MIDDLETON: Well, I don't have the answer to that question. I can just only hope and pray.
CHERNOFF (voice over): Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And coming up next hour, Oprah Winfrey cried on his shoulder on election night -- that guy right there. And since then, everyone has been asking, who is he? Well, we are going to reveal the secret identity of this mystery man. HOLMES: Then coming up, Noon Eastern, we will look at the latest legal fallout over Prop 8. That's the same-sex marriage ban that was passed in California this week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, a Denver woman is giving back by giving away a dream dress to military brides to be and to fiancees of active duty personnel. We're not just talking about any old dress. In fact, she is giving these women the wedding gowns of their dreams.
HOLMES: Yes, here now, Thanh Truong from our affiliate KUSA.
NGUYEN: All right, we are having some technical difficulties. Great story, by the way though. Many brides will be getting those dresses. The reward is still up for grabs though. She is giving several of them away, but it won't be for another few days.
HOLMES: Yes, so we will try to get that. It really is, you have to trust us. It's a good story. We will get that one to you.
But meanwhile, we will move on to this. You know, living in the White House, there's going to be some perks and some pressures associated with that, if you will. What are the Obama children going to face though?
CNN's Randi Kaye taking a look at that for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk about an extreme home makeover, the Obamas are moving into a new house, the White House.
DOUG WEAD, AUTHOR: One of the negatives of the White House is that it's very much a fish bowl.
KAYE: A fish bowl presidential historian Doug Wead says that can feel like a trap for the president's children. For the most part, Sasha and Malia, 7 and 10, have been shielded from the public, limited appearances and one interview which their dad says he regrets.
SASHA OBAMA, PRES. BARACK OBAMA'S DAUGHTER: When you come home, you know, you have your big gigantic bag and you leave it them under. Sometimes I tripped over it.
KAYE: The Obamas' daughters will have round the clock secret service protection, but not even that can fend off unwanted attention.
WEAD: There's something that Sasha will say and something Malia will say or do, and they'll be remembered for the rest of their life.
KAYE: Wead says the Roosevelt kids were famous for dropping water balloons onto foreign dignitaries, and unleashing their pet snake in the dining room.
John F. Kennedy Jr. was known for hiding under his father's desk. The Bush twins, Wead says, will be remembered for underage drinking.
13-year-old Noah McCullough interviewed dozens of first kids for his books by the same name.
NOAH MCCULLOUGH, AUTHOR: If you flunk that huge math test, then it's on the front page of the newspaper the next day.
KAYE: One of the first big decisions, will it be public or private schools?
WEAD: If they send their child to a private school, they will be called elitist and hypocritical for betraying the public school system.
KAYE (on camera): There are advantages to living in the White House, too. It has a bowling alley, a swimming pool and its own movie theater. World leaders and celebrities stop by all the time. And the biggest Easter Egg Hunt in the country takes place right on the front lawn. What child wouldn't love that?
(voice-over): But like those before them, Sasha and Malia will have to endure their father's critics. And there may be pressure as they grow up to do something as important as their father did.
MCCULLOUGH: John Quincy Adam's kids mostly went through alcoholism and addictions to different things to kind of soothe the pain of not being able to live up to their father's expectations.
My best advice to Sasha and Malia Obama is to just have fun. Be a kid.
KAYE: Michelle Obama is determined to keep things real for her daughters.
MICHELLE OBAMA, WIFE OF SEN. BARACK OBAMA: I'm a mother first and I'm going to be at parent-teacher conferences, in where I'm going to be the things that they want me to attend. I'm not going to miss a ballet recital.
KAYE: So much attention when all Sasha and Malia wanted out of this election was a new puppy promised to them, win or lose.
B. OBAMA: You have earned the new puppy that is coming with us to the White House.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, so on that role to normalcy, right, they are going to get the kids a new dog.
HOLMES: Got to get a dog. That's the big thing. Everybody wants to know what kind of dog. And a lot of people are weighing in, including our i-Reporters. Josh Levs looking at that. Josh? LEVS: They are all over it. Let's just do it on the screen, I want you to see a couple of what we've got. This is someone pushing for them to get a Black Lab. This is from Doug Belgard (ph), Pittsfield, Maine, who says these are the best dogs. Then we go to one other one right here. Irish Wolfhound, king of the canine race from Huget Rainforth (ph) who says she sees similar qualities between this type of dog and Obama: nobility, dignity and patience.
Some people also setting us i-Report videos. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nola, show Malia and Sasha how you shake it? Good girl. Show Malia and Sasha. Shake it. Shake it. Yes, we can, yes, we can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: People are pushing for this stuff. I'm telling you, that is Lola, by the way, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. And why lots of people are pushing dogs, I'm going to end with this. Let's check this out one more time.
Somebody was saying, why have a dog when you can have a "Obama Llama." So thank you to Rusty Clarke (ph) for that. Keep them coming folks, we've been having a great time with this. iReport.com, keep in mind though, one of his daughter is allergic. Got to be hypo- allergenic.
NGUYEN: yes, and I have a feeling llamas don't play catch as well.
LEVS: I don't know, have you ever tried? I have no idea.
NGUYEN: No, thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks, guys.
