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Obama's Economic Fix; Focus on Paul Volcker; New York City Targeted Over Holidays?; Update on Hospitalization of Former First Lady; Food Banks Struggle to Meet Growing Need

Aired November 26, 2008 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And there you have it, President-elect Barack Obama wrapping up his third news conference in three days. The president-elect adding more expertise to his money team. The president-elect announcing his new economic advisory board.
We're going to try to give Ed Henry just a moment to join us, because as you can see -- well, first, let me at least try to explain what you're seeing.

We've put up an L bar here that gives you travel information, temperatures for major cities across the country. And just refer to that on the screen. And we will get an update on all the weather conditions from our team of meteorologists in just a moment.

I believe Ed Henry is with us now.

Ed, you're so quick out of those news conferences.

Ed, first of all, you asked, it seems to me, the questions that a lot of people have been wondering about. You wanted specifics on spending, you wanted specifics on cuts, and whether or not the president-elect actually supports the latest moves from the Treasury, the New York Federal Reserve, those moves announced yesterday.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And as you can see, the president-elect still is very reluctant to get into specifics. We're in a very strange time right now where, since he is not sworn in yet, he is trying to fill this vacuum, if you will, fill the void left by President Bush being a lame duck. So much concern, anxiety out there with these latest economic reports just this morning on consumer spending, on jobless claims, getting a lot of people concerned, of course, about how deep this financial crisis is, where is the bottom on all of this.

And so he's trying to fill that vacuum to a point. But when you press him, he does not want to get into any specifics. And that may lead to some more anxiousness out there as people try to figure out exactly what is he going to do?

He still talks about how he plans to create 2.5 million new jobs over the first two years of his administration. He's talking about a very large economic stimulus plan. But as you saw, he does not want to get into any of those details yet.

Also, not explaining how he's going to pay for all this. When you add the $700 billion bailout that the president-elect supported and voted for himself this fall as a United States senator, the $800 billion you've been talking about that was extended by the government yesterday in loans to banks, more of a bailout, and you add that up with AIG and now the Citigroup bailout, there's a lot of money washing around. It's frankly money that's not paid for. It's government debt.

And now there's a lot of people wondering as well -- Democrats saying that maybe President-elect Obama's stimulus plan will have a price tag of up to $700 billion. You add that on to everything else that's been spent, there are going to obviously have to be some spending cuts.

He spoke about sacrifice, cutting the budget yesterday. But when I pressed him, you could see he's not willing to get into a single specific on how he's going to accomplish that. It's going to be a tall order.

HARRIS: Yes.

HENRY: And then I think the final point, when I asked him about all these Washington insiders coming back to government...

HARRIS: There you go, right.

HENRY: ... obviously he ran on a change message. And a lot of the faces that we see coming back, people like Paul Volcker, who's going to be an economic adviser, Larry Summers, these are people who have been around the block. And obviously his defense is, look, the Clinton administration was full of a lot of talented people, was the last Democratic administration. He wants to pull those people in, and obviously that makes some sense.

He wants to find people with some experience. But obviously when you hear also the name of Robert Gates from the Bush administration likely now to stay on as defense secretary, a lot of the president- elect's supporters are wondering about that mix of experience, people who have been around the block, and where are some of the new faces? So you could see he got a little bit defensive on that point...

HARRIS: Yes.

HENRY: ... and pushed back a little bit. But it's very clear this is a sensitive point for him right now -- Tony.

HARRIS: Great questions. If he didn't know before, he knows who you are now.

Ed Henry -- and he certainly did.

Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.

HENRY: Thank you.

HARRIS: And a little more focus now on Paul Volcker, a man quite familiar with economic quagmires, we might say. CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is in New York.

And Allan, Paul Volcker made his name as an inflation fighter, but many believe those policies actually contributed to at least one recession in the early '80s.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Tony, there's incredible irony in the selection of Paul Volcker...

HARRIS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: ... to head this recovery board. Now, first, let's just say that Paul Volcker is highly, highly respected. But the fact is, if we go all the way back to 1980, back then inflation was running at 14 percent. It was out of control.

Paul Volcker, as chairman of the Federal Reserve, put into place tight money policies, very tight policies that essentially squeezed that inflation out of the system. The problem was the effect of that was a very severe recession.

In fact, there were two recessions in early '80 and then in '81 and '82. By the end of 1982, unemployment was all the way up to 10.8 percent -- 10.8 percent. Compare that with today's unemployment rate of 6.5 percent.

It was very, very bad. And Volcker was ruthless. He felt he had to do it. A lot of economists agreed.

HARRIS: And Allan, if we can pivot here, some new economic reports out this morning on new home sales, jobless claims, consumer spending. Where do you want to start here?

CHERNOFF: Well, on and on.

HARRIS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: Let's start with latest numbers that came out.

New home sales down by 5.3 percent in the latest month. If you look to the year-ago level, 40 percent lower than one year ago. This is the lowest level of new home sales in 17 years.

We've been well aware that housing has been in trouble. A major reason that people are not buying new homes? Well, the jobs picture. And yet more evidence of the trouble over there.

Jobless claims for the latest week all the way up to 529,000. Yes, a little better than we had the prior week, but nonetheless, this is a very severe problem here. This tells us the unemployment rate is definitely going well above 6.5 percent. We know that.

As a result of the jobless problem and the difficulty of getting a new job, people, of course, are pulling back on spending. So personal consumption declined by 1 percent in October, a big drop. The worst since 9/11. And as well, it's not just consumers, but corporations also cutting back on spending. And as a result, durable goods orders -- and that's for items like cars, aircraft, refrigerators -- also a very big decline in October, down by 6.2 percent.

Bottom line, the economy is in severe trouble. That's why President-elect Obama is taking all this action. That's why he feels he cannot wait until January 20th.

HARRIS: OK, Allan. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Allan Chernoff for us in New York.

And there's this: a possible terror plot targeting New York City's subway and rail systems over the holidays. Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena has this developing security watch story.

Kelli, good to see you. What are you learning?

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, the FBI put out a bulletin to state and local law enforcement partners warning them that they received some intelligence that al Qaeda could be plotting a terror attack against New York City subways or rail systems around that area.

I did get my hands on the bulletin. Now, this is not a public bulletin, Tony. This is something that just goes out to law enforcement.

HARRIS: I see.

ARENA: OK? But this is what it says.

It says that the FBI has received plausible but an unsubstantiated report indicating that al Qaeda terrorists in late September may have discussed targeting transit systems in and around New York City. OK? So "unsubstantiated" means this is not something they've been able to determine is real, but they have sources telling them that this was discussed.

It says, "These discussions reportedly involve the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway or passenger rail systems." It's plausible, Tony, we've heard this before from terrorism experts, that there doesn't seem to be much stopping within our open society a suicide bomber from attacking a so-called soft target, like a subway or a shopping mall, for example.

The bulletin goes on to say, "We have no specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond aspirational planning."

So what does that mean? It means they don't have any evidence that anybody has actually done anything, bought an explosive or, you know, set a date...

HARRIS: Got you. ARENA: ... or made a plan to work with somebody else. Nothing is operational here. It says, "But we're issuing this warning out of concern that such an attack could possibly be conducted during the forthcoming holiday season."

Why? Because it makes sense. Right?

I mean, if al Qaeda wants to do damage, there's no better time to hit, especially in this economic situation, than to hit around the holiday time. DHS spokespeople say that passengers in New York City should be prepared to see very visible signs of an increase in security. They're talking about uniform and plain clothes detection officers, federal air marshals, K9 teams, security inspectors. That may sound familiar to you, Tony. Those are called Viper teams.

HARRIS: Sure. Yes.

ARENA: They should be out. But they're not raising the threat level at this time.

You know, you always hear those two words, "specific" and "credible." Right?

HARRIS: Right.

ARENA: Well, this does seem to have some specifics, Tony, but again, credible is what's lacking. You know, there's nothing in this bulletin that suggests that there's anything that's actual under way, that the intelligence community knows that this is real. They just have sources telling them that this was possibly discussed. And so when they hear that, they've got to push that out to their state and local partners and say, listen up, guys, this is what we're getting, remain vigilant.

HARRIS: Vigilant.

ARENA: Exactly.

HARRIS: Boy, we haven't heard those words in a while. It's been a while since we've reminded folks of that, to be vigilant.

ARENA: And it's very important over the holiday season, Tony.

HARRIS: It is.

ARENA: People have packages, and they're carrying stuff, and they're wearing heavy coats. And security experts say that even us, you and I, when we're going shopping, you know, if somebody happens to pass by and leave a bag somewhere, that you should report it even if you feel a little funny about it. You think, oh, they're going to think I'm crazy, do it anyway.

Go to the nearest security person at the mall and say, hey, somebody was walking by, left that bag, just didn't feel right about it.

HARRIS: Yes.

ARENA: OK? If you see somebody who seems to have very bulky clothing, especially if you're inside a mall, where people will unusually unbutton and open up their jackets, and if they're walking around with their jackets closed and looks a little bulky, it doesn't hurt to go over to a security guard and say, check out that guy over there or that woman.

HARRIS: A good reminder. A good reminder.

ARENA: Just a reminder.

HARRIS: I'm glad we took the extra time to give you the opportunity to really fully explain this. It's important stuff.

All right. Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent, for us.

Kelli, thank you. Appreciate it.

ARENA: OK, Tony.

HARRIS: And coming up later this hour, we will talk about this new warning of a possible terror plot against the New York transit system with CNN's Nic Robertson. He is in London.

President Bush -- well, this is fun. We can lighten it up just a bit here -- about to issue another pardon. And this one goes, well, to a real turkey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So what do you say? Live pictures once again.

Boy, the stage is set, huh, as the president any moment now will pardon the national Thanksgiving turkey. As you know, it's a yearly event.

And what's my note here? My guidance here is that this has been going on for 61 years here, the first ceremony taking place in 1947.

Oh, we've got activity. Everything is coming together here.

The names of the turkeys are being voted on -- I didn't know this -- via the White House Web site. And the president will announce the names.

OK. The president will announce the names of the turkeys during the ceremony this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: OK. All right. Let's take you to the White House now and President Bush.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please be seated. Welcome to the Rose Garden for the pardoning of the national Thanksgiving turkey. This is a tradition that dates back to the presidency of Harry Truman. Just to be safe, I will be pardoning a second bird in the unlikely event the main act chickens out.

(LAUGHTER)

Turkeys are not only the ones on edge this morning. You see, it turns out the Rose Garden is Barney's turf. So the press corps is a little nervous as well.

I appreciate the representatives of the National Turkey Federation who have joined us, President Joel Brandenberger, Chairman Paul Hill, Paul's wife Mary June (ph).

Today's birds were hatched on the Hill family farm in Ellsworth, Iowa. Paul's son Nathan and daughter-in-law Betsy, along with grandsons Colin (ph) and Connor (ph) did a fabulous job of raising the guests of honor.

I also welcome the children here from Cloverly Elementary School. And after I make my brief remarks, you will be welcome to come up and pet our feathered friends.

It's an election year, so it is fitting that the names of these two birds were chosen through the democratic process. After a long, drawn-out election season, when the people finally spoke, the name of the ticket sent here to the White House was Pumpkin and Pecan.

(APPLAUSE)

Pumpkin is right there. Pecan is in an undisclosed location.

Pumpkin and Pecan have an exciting trip ahead of them. Later today they will fly to Disneyland aboard Turkey One. Pumpkin will be the honorary grand marshal of Disneyland's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Together, these birds will gobble the rest of their days in the happiest place on earth. Just hope they stay humble there.

This is my final Thanksgiving as the president. Over the past eight years I have been given many reasons to be thankful.

I'm thankful to our men and women in uniform, and I am incredibly proud to have been their commander in chief.

(APPLAUSE)

I am thankful for the Armies of Compassion, volunteers who feed the hungry and shelter the poor.

I am thankful for the teaches and nurses and pastors and police officers and firefighters and others who serve their neighbors and better their communities.

I am thankful for the wonderful and supporting family that I have been blessed with. I'm grateful to Laura for her love. I'm grateful for two Thanksgiving miracles who were blessed -- who we were blessed with 27 years ago, Barbara and Jenna.

I'm thankful for the fact that my mother is doing well.

(APPLAUSE)

And this year we're looking forward to having another place at our Thanksgiving table with a son-in-law. And I'm thankful for Henry.

Most of all, I thank the American people for the tremendous privilege of serving as the president. In recent weeks I've talked a lot about sprinting to the finish, yet I've assured these turkeys they will not be trotting to their finish. That's because in keeping with the longstanding tradition, Pumpkin and Pecan are hereby granted a full and unconditional presidential pardon.

I wish all Americans a Happy Thanksgiving. And may God bless you.

HARRIS: That is -- hello, Pumpkin. That is a handsome bird. Yes, you are cutey.

Pumpkin getting the presidential pardon this year.

Where is Pecan? In an undisclosed location right now for safekeeping.

All right. There you go. This is a ceremony that's been going on for 61 years.

Now look at the kids. That's terrific.

President Bush offering up the presidential pardon for the Thanksgiving Day turkey.

How about this? We'll keep talking turkey for you this morning in the NEWSROOM.

You know, for many Americans, the only thing standing between them and their Thanksgiving meal, a little mileage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The president's mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, is leaving a Texas hospital this hour.

CNN's Sean Callebs is at Houston's Methodist Hospital.

And Sean, the president saying just moments ago that he was thankful for his family and of course the good news that his mother is feeling better.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, without question. Everybody knows she's really the matriarch of that very large, very well-known family.

And certainly a lot of gasps last night when the word came that she was taken to this hospital, Methodist Hospital, here in the heart of Houston. She apparently had been suffering stomach pains for a number of days. Around 6:30 Eastern time yesterday, called her husband, the former president, at his office and said, you know what, I think I need to get this checked out a little more thoroughly. So a Secret Service detail brought her down here to this hospital.

She underwent a battery of tests last night. Physicians decided, you know what, spend the night here; we're going to make sure nothing is wrong for observations. We got the word this morning that all those tests were negative.

She apparently is going to be leaving this hospital sometime soon. That, of course, is very good news for her son, as well as other members of the Bush clan. We don't know exactly what was wrong, what kind of tests were performed on the former first lady. But she's 83 years old. We know she was diagnosed with Graves' Disease back in 1989 when she first went into the White House. So a lot of tests were done back then, Tony. We know that people looked at the water in the White House and also in the Naval Observatory where they spent time as vice president.

No word on exactly what caused that. But President Bush later got Graves' Disease as well. So no indication that it has anything to do with this illness. But hopefully she'll be home with the family tomorrow enjoying Thanksgiving, and looking back on this as nothing more than an inconvenience.

HARRIS: Wouldn't that be nice?

All right. Sean Callebs for us.

Sean, good to see you. Thank you, sir.

A possible terror plot targeting New York City subway and rail systems over the holidays. Can al Qaeda pull it off?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A possible al Qaeda plot targeting transit systems in and around New York City during the holidays. Federal authorities say they have received a plausible, but unsubstantiated report about the possible plot. They say the discussion reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers, or explosives, on subway or passenger rail trains.

Authorities say they have no details to suggest the plot has developed beyond discussions and planning. The warning was issued as a precaution.

Let's get some perspective on the possible al Qaeda plot against New York City and its subway system. Senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, joins us live now. He is in London.

Nic, you hear this warning of a possible al Qaeda attack on the New York City transit system. And one wonders if al Qaeda is capable these days of launching what you think would be a significant strike.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. That's the bottom line here, Tony. They are capable of this sort of thing.

And we know that they have the intentions to do it. We saw them strike the subway system, the train system, in Madrid in 2004, in London in 2005. And just this year, the Spanish police interrupted what they believed was an operation to put a suicide bomber aboard a train in Barcelona. A group -- a Taliban group in Pakistan later said that they were responsible and behind that planned suicide bombing that never took place in Barcelona.

So it shows that they're still out there, that al Qaeda affiliated groups are still willing to make these attacks. And what we've seen in the past is that they've become capable of making these homemade bomb devices with detonators and exploding them either remotely by cell phones or by suicide bombings. And I think when you add in this announcement today about this sort of unconfirmed, unsubstantiated report into the fact that another Taliban video, an Afghan Taliban video, surfaced today where the men who appeared on it threatened to strike in Spain, in France, in the United States, in Denmark and Israel -- this is getting to be a sort of a newish departure for the Taliban here to make these threats, and they were going to strike through suicide bombings.

Then you can begin to see how the level of concern and the need perhaps to inform people -- the intent and the threat is still out there. So, yes, is a very short answer here, Tony.

HARRIS: But the other side of it is -- I wonder, we know how smart these organizations are. I wonder if you really think that this is a real threat or possibly the planting of false information around the holidays? We know what that can mean for folks, to hear of some kind of a plot around the holidays, just to make sure that al Qaeda and these kinds of organizations are on everyone's mind.

ROBERTSON: Oh, sure. They would love to sort of create fear when they're not actually capable of creating a strike.

HARRIS: Yes.

ROBERTSON: What we've got happening on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan right now, more intense focused efforts to disrupt al Qaeda along that border region. It is possible that they've been driven out from cover a bit and perhaps they're using less secure communications means. And perhaps that's how this information was picked up.

But I've seen it myself in Afghanistan, you get the Taliban out there on the ground and they're very capable of knowing that people -- that the troops are listening to them and then feeding and sewing false information trails, saying, we're over on this part of the hill, when they're nowhere near it. So they're very capable and knowledgeable about feeding false information. So that's entirely possible as well, Tony. HARRIS: And there's this. We just received some information, maybe I can get your response to it as well, Nic, from the New York City Police Department, saying that it is aware of an unsubstantiated report indicating that al Qaeda terrorists discussed targeting mass transit in New York City and the vicinity -- "We have no information indicating that these discussions advanced beyond the aspirational stage. But in an abundance of caution, the NYPD has deployed additional resources in the mass transit system."

Seems an appropriate response, would you agree?

ROBERTSON: It would. One shouldn't take chances. The threats -- they haven't been able to carry out anything for some time. So the threat is perhaps very, very low. But you cannot ignore these snippets of significant information.

HARRIS: OK. Nic Robertson for us in London.

Nic, appreciate it. Thank you.

When we come back, we will talk about the dire need for families this year as the unemployment numbers continue to rise. Food banks are under real stress. We will talk to the executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And this just in to CNN. We've got a (AUDIO GAP) clarification on the condition of former First Lady Barbara Bush from the Methodist Hospital. I'll just read it to you here: "Former First Lady Barbara Bush was admitted to the Methodist Hospital in Houston Tuesday with abdominal pains. As a result she underwent routine laparoscopic surgery Tuesday night to correct a perforated ulcer. She was resting comfortably Wednesday morning," -- this morning -- "and visiting with her family. During the procedure last night surgeons cleansed her abdominal area then patched and closed a one centimeter hole in Mrs. Bush's stomach caused by the ulcer."

-- Maybe more information than the former first lady would like to be known about her condition. But let's finish it up here --

"Mrs. Bush is expected to be discharged from the hospital next week."

Our earlier guidance was that she might be released this hour. But we're just getting this from the hospital that Mrs. Bush is expected to be discharged from hospital next week. We will keep you updated with the latest developments here.

Food bank volunteers and workers are sounding off on the economic crisis and the increase in demand. Many food banks are struggling to keep up. Not only are more people turning to them for help, but there are fewer donations. Bill Bolling runs the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

And Bill, it is good to see you. Thanks for your time today. I'm wondering, you started the Atlanta Community Food Bank -- what -- back in 1979?

BILL BOLLING, ATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: 1979.

HARRIS: And you've seen hard times before.

BOLLING: Oh, I've seen a number of them.

HARRIS: We're talking about the recessions of the '80s -- I think '81, '82,'87 was another tough year for a lot of folks in this country.

I'm wondering how the difficult times we're going through now compare to those tough days.

BOLLING: Well, I think deeper, wider, much more serious. It's certainly affecting many, many more families and families that historically have never been touched in this way.

HARRIS: How are you able to respond? I would imagine you work with a number of organizations who help you stock the pantries. How are you able to respond this year? And, are you able to keep pace with the need?

BOLLING: Well, we're part of a network called Feeding America. So there's 206 of us out there. And I think we're all having a similar experience.

In October, we were up 41 percent in distribution, the biggest increase in our history except for Katrina. We had that blip.

HARRIS: Are you kidding me?

BOLLING: So we're expecting the same thing in November and December. Numbers that we've never seen. Now I will correct you, we are getting more donations. About 8 percent or 10 percent more at this point.

HARRIS: Oh you are? Oh great.

BOLLING: But 40 percent more is going out the door. So we're not on a sustainable path, you might say.

HARRIS: Well -- and since you are part of this network, I'm just sort of curious, can you widen this discussion a bit to what you're hearing from your counterparts in other states about the need? Are the stories the same?

BOLLING: They're very, very similar. I think where we're sitting today, Atlanta is probably not hit as bad as many places. You look up in Michigan and they've got a very bleak future in front of them.

We're all networked. We all share best practices. We share information with each other and we share food. I think this is across the board, Tony.

HARRIS: I'm wondering what the future looks like. How long -- at some point you would like to be able to put together some projections of how long you would need to sustain the effort you have going on right now. Is there any end in sight to this current push, particularly when you hear the numbers and the projections in terms of unemployment for next year and perhaps beyond?

BOLLING: Well I think many of the things we're dealing with are systemic, so I don't think a new president, a new Congress, a new year is going the change this.

We're looking out 18 months, two years from where we are --

HARRIS: Are you really?

BOLLING: We are. I think it's going to take a while to build this back.

We're seeing families now coming in who used to be donors, calling me up and saying, Bill, I actually need help this year. So it's different than anything we've ever seen.

HARRIS: Are you going to be OK for the holidays? I'm talking about Thanksgiving, I'm talking about Christmas? Are you OK now? Can you match the need?

BOLLING: I don't think we're meeting all the need now. But because it's the holidays, we're doing many food drives and many people are pitching in.

We're going to need to do an interview again in February because our warehouse is going to be empty then.

HARRIS: Boy.

BOLLING: We're going to need people to step up, help each other. And I think Americans -- I think citizens are willing to do that if they know there's a legitimate need.

HARRIS: OK. Let's do that. Let's put it in the books for February.

BOLLING: All right.

HARRIS: Let's have you back and let's have that conversation.

Bill Bolling, it's great to see you. Thank you.

BOLLING: Thank you.

HARRIS: And happy holidays to you.

BOLLING: Thank you.

HARRIS: My pleasure. My pleasure. To find out how you can impact your world and help in the fight against hunger, just go to cnn.com/impact. There you will find details on the World Food Programme and other organizations feeding the world.

President-elect Barack Obama bringing in more experts to help him confront the nation's financial meltdown. Less than an hour ago, Obama announced the formation of a new economic recovery board. He says the goal is to provide fresh perspectives for dealing with the crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: ... Sometimes policy making in Washington can become a little bit too ingrown, a little too insular. The walls of the echo chamber can sometimes keep out fresh voices and new ways of thinking. You start engaging in group think. And those who serve in Washington don't always have a ground level sense of which programs and policies are working for people and businesses and which aren't.

This board will provide that fresh perspective to me and my administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Obama named former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to lead the new advisory board.

Costume controversy. Why protesters showed up at a kindergarten Thanksgiving feast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, these days people carry around an incredible number of gadgets, these devices, cell phone, BlackBerrys, laptops, the MP3 players. Here's the question: Are we too wired? And is that hurting relationships in America?

A new survey suggests it might be. Josh Levs is here now.

And you know what? I would think it would hurt our relationships, but you've got the findings from the survey.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what? I'm going to show you. It's really interesting what happened.

They sent me this information and I was struck by what I saw on us there. We are ultra wired. We know that. But men and women actually disagree over how much that's impacting relationships in America. It's an interesting survey. And here to talk to us about it, Stacy DeBroff. She is the founder of Mom Central.

Hey there, Stacy.

STACY DEBROFF, FOUNDER, MOM CENTRAL: Hi. LEVS: Stacy, can you hear me?

All right. Everything cool?

Stacy, I want to start off showing what I think the most interesting figure in this survey. Let's go to this graphic where we summarize it. Basically, 300 couples were asked whether the wired lifestyle is decreasing their desire for intimacy. Now, that is not a code word for sex. It could be anything that is intimate time together.

Two-thirds of women said being wired is that much of a problem. Only one-third of men. And that is in the same couple. So what are we seeing here? Why do guys and women have such different answers about that?

DEBROFF: We have very different views about intimacy. In this Minera study they had taken 300 couples, asked them separately. And what we see is We some guys like working with the clicker. There's different feelings about, I need your full attention, what does it mean to be intimate, to be romantically connected. And it really -- you see couples 12 times more likely to reach for cell phones than each other.

LEVS: Wait Stacy, I just want to make this really simple. I think what you told me earlier was that what it boils down to is that guys, as a rule, think that we can multitask a lot better. That we can have all these gadgets -- right -- you can have your remote controls, your cell phones, and it's not going to get into the way of intimacy.

But women want you to totally focus more, right? Is that what you're finding?

DEBROFF: Yes. I think that -- women want 100 percent attention. That for us, intimacy means all electronics have to be gone. And guys think that it's OK if there's electronics in the background. You know, I'm still paying attention, too, I just got to take this one call or answer this one e-mail.

LEVS: Right. As rule, men just don't see that as much of a problem.

Now there were a couple other interesting things in this survey. You pointed out how much more often people reach for their cell phones and remote controls more than they do for their partners. Also, I want to show you another graphic here that shows that about half of the respondents said -- they think, yes, people are too wired and they need to unplug.

And Stacy, I know that you, through Mom Central, have some solutions. So let's go to the next graphic. I want you to talk me through these, what you say are some solutions that aren't from Captain Obvious, things people might not think of to try and knock out some of that excessive wiredness and get into intimacy.

Talk to me about these, starting with having a no-technology date.

DEBROFF: Right. You have to turn it off to turn on. So, there just say -- pick times during the week, from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m., it's going to be a technology-free zone. No laptops, no cell phones, the TV is off and you're going to pay attention to each other.

LEVS: OK. Now you also said make technology work for you. What's that about?

DEBROFF: With all the social media platforms, from Facebook to MySpace, Twitter, there is FriendFeed, put out messages. Tell 180 of your friends and colleagues what's going on, so that you are broadcasting, you don't have to answer everyone individually. And take advantage of technology to have, for example, your phone calls go straight to voice mail.

LEVS: So send out some big announcement that says, you know what? I'm just out of commission for the next couple of hour.

Listen, it's really interesting -- I do want to mention, this one had corporate backing, it was from Minera which is from a birth control company. But it actually followed scientific standards with random digit dialing, got random couples all over the place.

We really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

DEBROFF: Thanks. Everyone has got to disconnect to reconnect.

LEVS: So what do you think, Tony? Did you just start a --

HARRIS: I hope so. I hope so. Folks really --

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HARRIS: Let's reconnect. Let's talk.

LEVS: I get. Anytime you're in a situation you (INAUDIBLE) check your e-mail, you don't want to do that.

HARRIS: Appreciate it, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks a lot.

HARRIS: Thank you.

We want to talk to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta now, and get his analysis. He is on the phone with us now -- with the information that we're learning about the condition of the former First Lady Barbara Bush.

And Sanjay, good to talk to you. We received word from the Methodist Hospital that the former first lady was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday with abdominal pains and that a laparoscopic surgical procedure was performed.

What can you tell us about that? DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well this sounds a little bit more serious than was initially reported, or initially told to us about her condition. She probably -- at the time that she went into the hospital, the abdominal pains were probably serious.

What happens at that point, they start to do some tests. And one of those tests is probably something like a simple x-ray. And what that may have shown was that there was air that had escaped from what is normally within the stomach and had gotten into the chest and to the abdominal area. That's abnormal to see that. And that means that there must be some sort of hole in the intestine somewhere. And that's probably what prompted this operation.

Now, to have an operation like this, the patient is asleep, under general anesthesia. They go in and they basically -- using laparoscopic instruments -- put a small little incision in the abdominal area and put the instruments inside the abdominal cavity and find this hole. And if it can be repaired they go ahead and do that at the time. And also, they mentioned in that report that you read earlier, Tony, that they had to clean up the abdominal area as well, which meant that maybe there had been some spillage, we call, of some of the contents, typically in the stomach, had gotten into the abdominal cavity.

And that's -- it's a fairly significant operation, especially on someone who's 83 years old, not even counting the anesthesia, which is always going to be something of concern. So no surprise that she's not going home today as they had originally reported. And that she'll probably be in the hospital for a few day, she probably won't be able to eat a few days. They'll have to feed her with I.V. nutrition for some time.

So this is not a small --

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: -- a small deal I would say.

HARRIS: And Sanjay, to your point, I think we were probably a bit thrown off when we received the earlier guidance that she was going to be released today. And we appreciate you joining us and sort of detailing that this is a little more significant than we might have first thought.

And to your point, the surgeons patched -- found that hole that you thought might be there -- patched and closed a one centimeter hole in Mrs. Bush's stomach caused by the ulcer.

GUPTA: That's right.

And people think of ulcer disease, or they have peptic ulcer disease it's often called, and sometimes that can be treated solely with medications, including antibiotics, including medications to try and prevent those ulcers from perforating, from actually opening up, as it sounds like was the case with the former first lady. If it gets to that point, then that is something that does require surgery, almost without question.

And it is -- it's a further along the spectrum, if you will, of peptic ulcer disease, as opposed to something that is much more common in this country that can be treated without surgery. So I think that -- an 83-year-old woman going to the hospital with significant abdominal pain, getting this sort of operation -- this is something that we're going to need to keep on top of and wish her, obviously, a speedy recovery.

HARRIS: And there he is, our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us.

Sanjay, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HARRIS: And still to come, new information about a possible terror plot targeting New York City's subway and rail system over the holidays, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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