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Obama Administration Begins First Day on the Job
Aired January 21, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
Hope he had plenty of coffee this morning. The new president begins his first full day on a hump day. And there's a lot of hump. First and foremost, the economy. The party's over. The tucks is off. The work has begun.
If Iraq is in a better place, getting Afghanistan engaged with the Middle East, I think that's recoverable.
Colin Powell looking ahead. Ha he thinks of Iraq, Afghanistan, America's reputation, and scars he thinks are starting to heal already. --captions by vitac-- www.vitac.com
Hello, everyone. I'm kyra phillips in atlanta.
We'll get right to it at the top of the hour. The pomp, circumstance and confetti are so yesterday. Today it's all about the em bo grease. We're talking about the Obama administration's first full day. And believe me it's been busy. We're not sure if this is the change he was talking about. Good-bye, Bush Street. Hello, Obama Street. This ought to frazzle you're car's GPS by the way.
And speaking of frazzled, the chief justice knows what we have always known, teleprompter, good, memorization, bad.
First up, President Obama's getting down to work on getting 11 million Americans back to work. A meeting with his economic brain trust is part of his first full day as the 44th U.S. President. So is a pay freeze for the West Wing's highest earners; more about that in just a minute.
But Wall Street bouncing back from its inauguration day selloff. Five more companies today announced thousands more layoffs, however, and one company, General Motors, announced that it's not number one any longer. GM says it sold about 8.3 million vehicles last year; more than 600,000 fewer than Toyota.
As you saw here live last hour, Mr. Obama believes belt tightening starts at home. That would be the White House. That's where we find CNN's Dan Lothian.
I'm glad he's not in charge of your salary, Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He did not touch my contract. But you never know what kind of powers he might have. But he did talk about how he is instituting a freeze for his senior staff. But he even went beyond that. He's talking about transparency in government. He's been talking about that on the campaign trail, talking about that even after he became president, or became president-elect.
Now as he is president, he is instituting some really tough guidelines, really coming down hard, making sure that there will be transparency in his government, that there will be strict ethics reform. Again, this is something we heard from Barack Obama back when he was senator in Illinois. And again, now doing it as president.
First of all, Barack Obama saying that anyone who was a lobbyist who is now coming to work for his administration will not be able to work on any matters that they have lobbied on for the past two years. Also saying that anyone who leaves his administration will not be able to lobby the administration as long as he is president.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: However long we are keepers of the public trust, we should never forget that we are here as public servants, and public service is a privilege.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: Kyra, what President Obama also is asking anybody who is working for him to do is to sign a contract that they will abide by these guidelines. So, again, he's making good on that promise of transparency, beginning very early in his administration, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, something else very early in his administration. Making up his mind about GITMO. We've heard that he has, and maybe it will take longer than we thought. What do you know, Dan?
LOTHIAN: We don't know that he has made up his mind yet. What we can tell you is that there is a draft circulating, we don't know what is in that at this point. Certainly this is a difficult process, what to do with these detainees; a lot of legal questions surrounding shutting down that facility. So we don't know yet what is in that draft.
Certainly, though, we expect to know shortly. What I can tell you, though, is that the Obama administration has asked prosecutors to put the prosecutions of the detainees there at Guantanamo on hold for at least 120 days, so those cases can be reviewed. So it doesn't take anything away from actually eventually shutting it down, it's just one step in that direction.
PHILLIPS: Got it. By the way, Dan, welcome to the White House lawn. This is your new home for awhile.
LOTHIAN: That's right. That's right. Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be talking a lot. OK, see you again.
LOTHIAN: OK.
PHILLIPS: Here's economic data that we can feel good about. Believe it or not, Americans feel a little better about the economy. Take a look. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds 50 percent of us consider the economy in very poor shape. But just last month two-thirds of us did. A scant 13 percent said the economy is good. But only 8 percent felt that way in December. Most Americans want some kind of stimulus package, but the number goes way up if you throw in tax cuts. At most, only four in 10 are against a plan to jump start the economy.
The economic challenges facing our new president are profound. Today thousands more job cuts have been announced. GM's outlook is worsening. Even though the Dow is now up, yesterday it plunged by the largest amount ever on inauguration day. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with the details.
So, Susan, explain to me the selloff yesterday. Did it have anything to do with President Obama's inauguration? Because you would just assume it would do well, because America was so excited about change.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there was a lot of hope, and Barack Obama has certainly based his very successful campaign for the presidency on it. But there was no hope on Wall Street yesterday because we had fresh signs, Kyra, that the U.S. financial system is in perilous shape. Despite all the TARP, despite all of these extraordinary measures by the Federal Reserve, it's just in dire straits. We got more evidence of that yesterday.
So, it was a shame that it took place on inauguration day. But I should say that historically, inauguration day is not a good day for stocks. There was no Barack bounce. And there haven't been bounces historically. Yesterday the Dow plunged 4 percent at 332 points. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were down at least 5 percent. Historically, the second worst was the day that Lyndon Baines Johnson took his first oath of office. And yes, that was the day that JFK was assassinated.
You know, you might look at January as a better indicator of how the year will go. Except we don't want to look at January, because it's so bad already for the three major averages.
Today we have a bounce in the market overall, Kyra, but we have those job cuts that you were talking about, from all quarters. United Airlines, Eaton, which is a manufacturing firm, Clear Channel, which has TV and radio stations, Erickson, which is a big mobile phone player, Warner Brothers, our corporate cousin, and United and Eaton, by the way even announced job cuts last year. This is what happens when you're in a deep recession.
United Airlines, by the way, posting losses, quarterly losses of nearly $1.5 billion. Kyra, in this kitchen sink of a report, you also mentioned GM. I'll just tell you, GM shares are sinking 7 percent. It said it may run out of cash before the end of March if it doesn't get the second installment government bailout. Remember when it went hat- in-hand to Congress saying, we need that cash. We need it quick. Well, it needs it. We expect it - GM - to get that money. But GM also, by the way, no longer number one, as expected Toyota. In annual sales worldwide, Toyota is now the leader, the king of the road. And Toyota, by the way, is having a very tough year. That's the times we live in.
But overall, the bulls, well, they're making up for some of the lost ground yesterday. The blue chips are up right now 1.5 percent, as is the Nasdaq. But we have miles to go to make up all that lost ground.
PHILLIPS: That's true.
LISOVICZ: It's still a young week. We've got a few more days in the trading week, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. Thanks, Susan.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Well crucial votes and probing questions for four of President Obama's Cabinet picks. A committee vote is pending this hour on Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder; a floor vote later this afternoon for Hillary Clinton, for secretary of State, and hearings are also under way, or soon will be for Transportation Secretary Nominee Ray LaHood. And Treasury pick Tim Geithner. Now, Geithner is getting grilled about taxes. LaHood may catch flack over earmarks. And six of their fellow nominees sailed through confirmation yesterday, by the way.
Well, he inherited one of the most costly wars in American history. Now President Barack Obama is vowing to carry out a campaign pledge to bring American combat forces home from Iraq.
Something new we've learned about Flight 1549's engines. The FAA was actually seeing red flags before that plane ended up in the Hudson River.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, nobody wants a power vacuum at the Treasury, but that's not stopping senators from making a federal case out of the nominee's tax issues. CNN's Ali Velshi watching this from New York.
Ali, I know today's hearing is a formality. Or is it something -- could something happen that we actually derail Geithner's nomination?
VELSHI: Things have gone wrong before. Obviously the senators don't like to call it a formality because they actually have to do the confirmation. And they'd like to think that they have the power to actually turn it around. I don't think you're likely going to see the nomination of Tim Geithner turned around. But, boy, after admitting that he made a mistake on his tax filings that ended up having him pay $35,000 less than he should have. That's a tough one for the guy who is going to be, you know, in charge of the department that collects and spends the money. So, they've made a lot of hay out of it. The concern, Kyra, look, you could go two ways. You could sit there and say, of all the people not to make mistakes on their taxes, wouldn't you want the Treasury Department head to be squeaky clean? The other one is, what does this economy need? Am I all that concerned about his ability to use an online tax service, or is he the right guy to solve the economic problem?
He did say, however, Kyra, that the tax mistake occurred because he filed his own taxes using popular software. I'm a big advocate of do it yourselfers. As you know, I've never actually filed my own taxes on that kind of software because I'm quite sure I would be one of these people making some sort of error and then you would be reporting on me not becoming - being confirmed as something.
PHILLIPS: I would never do that. I would never out you on things like that.
VELSHI: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: Right. Unless we got in an argument. No, but seriously, he is saying that he does his sown taxes, and therefore he made this $35,000 mistake.
VELSHI: Right, he did his own taxes back in 2001 to 2003, or something like that.
PHILLIPS: OK, which amazes me - well, I don't know, I guess with all the write offs. It just surprises me that he's doing that in the first place. Or is that abnormal? Is that something that they usually do for ethical purposes, like OK, if I do something wrong, considering what I do, I'm doing my own taxes?
VELSHI: Yes, I would almost think that if you're - he's with the International Monetary Fund at the time.
PHILLIPS: Right.
VELSHI: You would kind of think that if you're in a business that deals with money, as I am, that is kind of why I have an accountant do it, so that at least there is another set of eyes.
Again, it does seem to be a fairly common mistake. A lot of people use that kind of tax software. You know, when you sign your taxes, unless somebody audits you, they may not ever catch the mistake. So, you're responsible for putting in the right information, and getting it done the right way.
The unfortunate part is the discussion has eaten up all that time for questions, so we haven't really got a sense of what Tim Geithner might actually do with the nation's taxes; and how it might get us out of this problem. We do know from what he's said, in the past, and what President Obama has said, but we didn't get a whole lot of meat and potatoes back and forth from him today, unfortunately.
PHILLIPS: You would think, considering somebody that's going to be in charge of money, and they're missing $35,000 that he didn't pay. You're going to be - and Barack Obama came forward today in his White House briefing, they're talking about ethics.
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And how he wants everyone to be able to trust his senior folks in the administration. And so you would think that that would really get a lot of attention. This could be a show stopper if he did something intentionally.
VELSHI: It's not a little matter. It's not a rounding error of a couple bucks. It is $35,000. He has since paid it back. He was very, very clear in his testimony today that he was apologetic. He's sorry. It was a mistake. It was an oversight. He definitely got his slap on the wrist. But you're right, this does play into the specific role he's got.
Then again, you know, senators like Chuck Schumer came out and said, look, he's not one of the best guys for the job. He may be the best guy for the job because he was in the room when so many crucial decisions took place over the past year, concerning the credit crisis. And others, Kyra, say if he was in the room, some of those decisions don't seem like they were the right ones. Why did we save Bear Stearns but not Lehman Brothers. There's some good discussion to be had, and hopefully, it will be had. Ultimately my guess is that he gets confirmed.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll wager on it. Then we'll talk about how he is going to deal with the bailout plan and the stimulus plan.
VELSHI: Right.
PHILLIPS: OK, good. Let's make our wager.
We want to know what you think about this? What would you like President Obama to do in his first 100 days in office? E-mail us your thoughts at CNNnewsroom@cnn.com. We'll read as many as we can in the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: One of President Barack Obama's first acts in office is already getting results. Judges at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have agreed to suspend the 9/11 case in a trial involving a Canadian suspect captured in Afghanistan.
There are five defendants in the 9/11 case, including Khalid Sheikh Mahmoud. That move comes one day after President Obama ordered the U.S. government to suspend prosecutions for 120 days and review all the cases involving terror suspects at the camp. Right now there are 245 detainees at Guantanamo.
One of President Obama's top priorities today, meetings with senior military commanders on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the campaign he vowed to do much more to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, and to get all U.S. combat forces out of Iraq within 16 months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: When I am commander in chief, I will set a new goal on day one. I will end this war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Iraqi officials appear to be on the same page with President Obama. The prime minister's spokesman says it's OK for all American forces to withdraw before the 2011 departure date agreed by former President Bush. CNN's Arwa Damon is in Baghdad.
So, first of all, Arwa, do you think - well, how did Iraqis, the U.S. troops respond to that, and what he said specifically about Iraq? What did Iraqis tell you, first.
ARWA DAMON, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Iraqis, as you were saying, the spokesman for the Iraqi government was saying that the Iraqi government was OK with a withdrawal date before the date of 2011 if, and only if, that was not a unilateral withdrawal and that it did not in any way jeopardize the security, and especially the security gains very fragile that have been made over the last year.
Now, he also went on to say that President Obama's plan was in accordance with the Iraqi government strategy of trying to train up the Iraqi security forces. Remember, we've been hearing this over and over again. As the security forces stand up, the U.S. military can stand down. But some intellectuals will caution about a premature U.S. troop withdrawal, questioning how realistic that time frame really is, and pointing out that should a premature withdrawal take place, we could see things like a resurgence of Al Qaeda and even increase in influence from Iran. That, of course, would not have just regional but global implications as well.
Senior Iraqi officials that we were actually with last night, were watching the inauguration very closely. The U.S. military, also some of the troops deployed here in Iraq, having a chance to watch the inauguration as well. This is, after all, the change of their own commander in chief. The man who ultimately will be deciding what their fates will be.
Many of them, though, who we have spoken to in the past saying no matter what happens, they will just be carrying out orders. They're not really allowed to comment politically. But also saying they fully expect to be deployed on multiple tours, either in Iraq, or if it is the case, in Afghanistan.
PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to see what happens, especially before 2011. Arwa Damon, thanks so much.
And early in the presidential campaign there was much speculation on whether Colin Powell would toss his hat into the race for the White House. We all know, of course, that he didn't. And today the former Army general and secretary of State explained why to our John Roberts on CNN's "American Morning."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Now that we have elected our first president who's African-American, can you tell us, I think for the first time, why you didn't run? What were those concerns?
COLIN POWELL, FMR. BUSH SECRETARY OF STATE: Because I did not want to. Because I'm basically a soldier and because I never found inside of me the kind of internal passion that you've got to have to run for elective office. I never woke up --
ROBERTS: And what were your wife's concerns?
POWELL: She was concerned as well and it would change our family life. She was concerned to some extent about our safety. But I'm a soldier. And that wasn't my concern. My concern was I never woke up a single morning to go think about this, or talk to people about it. And find it in my heart and soul, the passion that a Barack Obama or John McCain or George Bush or Bill Clinton has. It just wasn't me. You know, you've got to be true to yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
In addition to his stint as secretary of state, Powell was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, under the first President Bush, and former President Clinton.
Today he's juggling the tasks of running the nation. But last night, the new president showing off a little move and groove there with Hollywood's biggest stars.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hollywood loosened up in Washington - in Washington, rather, at last night's inaugural balls. The new first couple danced their way through 10 of them, rubbing elbows with some pretty big name celebrities. Of course, Lola Ogunnaike had the tough duty of following all of those parties.
I heard that, Lola, you worked your way into a pretty excellent spot for the swearing-in ceremony?
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I sure did. I was actually on the capitol stairs five rows behind Jay-Z and Beyonce and P. Diddy. I saw Gayle, I saw Oprah. I was right there. Where exactly were you, Miss Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Oh, let me show you. How nice of you to ask. Let's roll the video. See?
(CHEERING CROWDS, KYRA PHILLIPS SWAMPED BY CROWDS)
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: See, there you go. You know, history, the good thing is, history is not repeating itself, Lola. But there I was in the back. And you were up there in the front. OGUNNAIKE: Well, you know, Rosa Parks didn't sit down for nothing. I was up front. But don't worry, girl.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Thank you so much. Obviously you scored yourself a credential, something I couldn't do. So I was there at the jumbotron. How did you do it?
OGUNNAIKE: I don't know. I just had a media pass and I finagled my way in there and it was sort of at the last minute. And I just kept talking really fast. You know, use the New York thing on them. I think I'm over there. I think my crew's over there. (GIBBERISH)
Next thing I'm there.
PHILLIPS: You know what, next time I'm hanging with you.
OGUNNAIKE: You've got to roll with me, Kyra. You've got to roll with me.
PHILLIPS: I know. I was trying to do the right thing.
All right. Speaking of the right thing, Michelle's dresses yesterday. Let's talk about the designers. Did she wear the right thing?
OGUNNAIKE: I thought she was 2 for 2. Thumbs up on both dresses. The first look, the Isabel Toledo look, I thought was great. I loved the color on her. Nice, demure, understated, but still very chic. I thought the gloves worked. There was a hint of color, that was really unexpected. That worked.
I liked the white dress, also in the evening by Jason Wu. Twenty- six years old. Who lucks up and lands a dress on the back of the first lady at 26. I mean, he must be in heaven right now. Some people on the blogs were a little mean. Some people said she looked like she was going to a wedding. One person said she looked like she was wrapped in toilet paper. But I thought it was a hit.
PHILLIPS: Well, you know, you're giving me a hard time of where I had to be for the inauguration. But I'm just going to point out to my viewers that, you know, when you got all dressed up in your beautiful dress and your heels, that you didn't have such an easy time getting around. Let's roll it, Val.
OGUNNAIKE: Mm-hmm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OGUNNAIKE: Behind the glitz and the glamour, me trudging to the next party, because there are no cabs. The train can't drop you off anywhere near anything. So, here I am walking.
How do I get to the next party, please?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So you know what, you may have worked the inauguration. But you had to suffer a little bit.
OGUNNAIKE: I suffered. I'm going to get a pedicure right after this hit. I'm telling you. I'm right there. Because my feet are still on fire right now.
PHILLIPS: Well, you know, I'm going to out this here. Back when you were working at another organization, as a matter of fact, I think it was all the way back to college, I want to let our viewers know because Lola is so sophisticated, understated and demure, that she was called Blacky-O. You've got some competition now, Lola. Michelle Obama is giving you some competition.
OGUNNAIKE: I know. From one Miss O to another, I've got to step up my game.
PHILLIPS: I always love your game on my show. Great to see you, Lola.
OGUNNAIKE: Good to see you, too.
PHILLIPS: Next inauguration I'm hanging with you.
OGUNNAIKE: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: OK.
Well, friends, associates, allies, or none of the above, President Obama scans the political spectrum for partners in his lofty agenda. And tell us what you think. What would you like President Obama to do in his first 100 days in office? E-mail us and your thoughts, CNNnewsroom @ cnn.com. We'll read as many as we can later in the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, you've got to have friends, especially if you're a brand-new president with crises everywhere that you look. President Obama has made a priority of making friends and allies. Some you might expect; some maybe not. CNN's Ed Henry, shows me how to just name drop a little bit.
Are we talking tactical alliances here, Ed? Or a real end to politics as usual, what do you think?
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, he's clearly, you heard in the inaugural address that he was talking about reaching out to current allies, but also trying to make new allies, trying to sort of have a diplomatic show of force. It's something he criticized the Bush administration a lot about on the campaign trail.
And so I think in the days ahead there's going to be a real challenge for him to follow up on that talk and really show that he is going to, you know, show so much diplomacy that it's actually going to make a difference in key spots.
For example, what's he going to do with Iran? And their push for nuclear weapons? How do you stop them? What if they do get nuclear weapons? Then what do you do? There are so many questions now that he's going to be facing. During the campaign, you know, he talked about reaching out to countries like Iran, as long as there were some conditions. You know, talking to some of our foes. And he got a lot of criticism from conservative about it. But now he's really got to back it up. I thought it was fascinating, you'll remember, President Bush a week or so ago, in his final news conference, was talking about how when the parade was over, the inaugural lunch over there with the leaders, they were going to have a whole show for you up there I think as the former president put it.
He said then you come into that oval office and all of a sudden the weight of all these problems fall on your shoulders. There's going to be a moment like that for President Obama. And sure enough, that moment has now come. In fact, he first really got into the oval office this morning for any extended period, about 10 minutes and went in there and actually had a letter of advice from President Bush, which would be fascinating obviously to read. But now these problems he's been talking about for so long fall squarely on his shoulders, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: OK, you bring up an interesting point. You mentioned that letter that he leaves for the incoming president. Do we ever get a chance to see those letters? Are they ever humorous? Are they serious? Is it ceremonial? What do you know about the letters?
HENRY: It's one of the few things that they really try to keep within that presidential circle, that small club. You notice the photo that the White House put out yesterday, it was sort of a folder that former President Bush put on the oval office desk. And it had a post- it note on it, if you can believe it. The post-it note said 44, for the 44th president. Basically, here it is, you know.
PHILLIPS: Yo, 44, here's your letter. I'm out of here. Don't let the door kick me in the back.
HENRY: I was just talking a little while ago to Robert Gibbs, the new White House press secretary and we were talking about the other tradition that he has which is press secretaries for decades now have passed on a flack jacket. So Dana Perino got a flack jacket from her predecessor. She leaves it in the closet there for the White House press secretary. So when he comes in, he gets this flack jacket waiting for him. I guess it's supposed to sort of defend him from the potential attacks from the front row of the briefing room once we start those briefs, which we think will start with Robert Gibbs as early as tomorrow. So I don't think he can wear the jacket in there, though.
PHILLIPS: He's not going to have to wear it, because apparently this is an administration about transparency and being really open. So I don't think, if they do their job correctly, when you're hammering them with intense questions. I heard a bottle of whisky goes with that, too? Is that true?
HENRY: That's usually not around the White House. That's after hours.
PHILLIPS: Oh, OK, that's when you're all meeting at the bar and getting the real scoop. There's this other tradition I guess with the VP where they sign the desk. We have a picture of Cheney actually signing the desk.
HENRY: Before they leave, it's interesting, I mean you see United States senators do that as well with the desks that they have on the Senate floor. It's an amazing tradition, because you'll hear senators talk about how they've got the desk that has the signature of Daniel Webster in it or someone, Henry Clay or someone. And that obviously brings it back for them, sort of the sense of history, the sense of purpose.
I think obviously that's what President Obama was trying to talk about today. Beyond just these initial executive orders on government ethics, he was trying to instill in these new White House staffers the fact that, look, this is not just about you. There are a lot of big people who have come before you and there's a lot of big people after you. So don't come in here and think that it's all about making your own name. We've seen a lot of those kinds of scandals, not just around the White House, in Democratic and Republican administrations, but on Capitol Hill as well, obviously over earmarks and trading and selling access, et cetera. It's a heavy burden and a heavy responsibility.
PHILLIPS: I'm not releasing any names. So when the picture of Dan Quayle popped up there with Bush, the question was asked, did Dan Quayle spell his name correctly?
HENRY: I never double checked that. It's very tough to be on the Senate floor. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
PHILLIPS: As long as there's no bubble gum stuck underneath the desk. That would be a real nightmare, OK, Ed Henry, good to see you. Thanks so much.
HENRY: Take care.
PHILLIPS: There's a lot of changes with the new administration. Among them, the White House website. Our Ed Henry is going to come back just a little later and talk to us about that as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. So have you checked out the new president's new home page? Just as the face of the presidency changed at noon yesterday, so does the look of whitehouse.gov. The redesigned site has some of the same interactive features seen on Mr. Obama's campaign website. And if you want to get linked in, you can. All you have to do is sign up for e-mail updates from the president. There's also a new White House blog and a place for you to chime in on upcoming legislation. The feedback selection also allows you to view all the non-emergency legislation for five days before the president signs it.
Let's go ahead and take a look at it. You look at the front page here, I just clicked on -- automatically you can go to all these various pictures. There's the inauguration yesterday. We've got a picture here of Obama meeting with some factory workers, talking about the economy and you can actually click on here, read the president's remarks, so you can read his speeches. I thought this was a neat shot over here. I think it was number four -- there you go -- of the president and his family -- this was MLK day. You can also read onto his speech, his remarks that he made there on the holiday as well. Then if you go up to the site here up on the top of it, bear with me here, because I'm using Rick Sanchez's big keyboard, right here is an e-mail section where you can type in your e-mail and you put your zip code and that's when they send you updates.
This is really cool, too. This is new, the blog section. You can click on and it's actually starting a blog. So you can get on that and read that. And then if you're on the blog site, you can pan down or pan down, listen to me, calling the camera shots, scroll down, thank you Scotty and you can click onto -- I thought this was interesting, too -- down at the bottom. You guys made it big for me. Thank you. Participate, office of public liaison. You can type onto this and actually have e-mail correspondence with a staff at the White House, questions, ideas and communication with somebody there. There you go. You put your contact information. We have the old one, too. So there you go., You see how this one is. And all the new ways you can get in touch with folks at the White House.
My question is, I wonder how often the president will actually see those e-mails. Maybe we'll have to ask Ed Henry to ask somebody at the White House. There's the old look, very standard, basic website, interesting information. It's there. But with this one, it's very interactive, something that obviously Obama really pushed for even prior to taking on the role as president. So we thought that was pretty interesting, the whole new look. We have Ed Henry with us now. So Ed Henry, what do you think of this new website? Did you get a chance to look at it? As I was kind of going through it, looking at like the blog and the fact that you can get updates from the White House, can you imagine being anybody, excuse me just a minute, the White House just sent me an up date.
HENRY: You know, I think we should point out, the Bush White House did start some of these kinds of features. There was a blog that they updated maybe somewhat frequently. They didn't do it all the time. I think the Obama people are trying to push the limits of that a bit more because they've embraced those new technologies. But for example, when we went on foreign trips with President Bush, Dana Perino would blog other senior officials about what was going on at some of these meetings and what they were seeing. But definitely, you're right. There's sort of a new look. They're trying to add some new features.
Instead of now the presidential radio address that people have grown accustomed to for years, it's now actually called the presidential video address and it's going to be posted on there, posted on youtube as well. So they're trying to push the limits of that a little bit more, make that a little bit more interesting. But what's ironic is that this morning when a lot of these new White House staffers came in, they couldn't get their own computers going. They couldn't get their television sets going. They didn't have their e-mail accounts up.
PHILLIPS: They were all working on this, that's why.
HENRY: They're working on that, but also how ironic is the campaign that tried to sort of push the limits on communicating directly with the American people, text messages and the Internet, as soon as they come into the White House, they're learning that the Federal government is a whole another beast. It's not like a lean, mean campaign operation. There's a lot of bureaucracy. They're finally getting hour by hour, they're started to get their TVs to work. More people are getting their e-mail accounts and all that, part of the transition of power I suppose Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Very good, Ed Henry, (INAUDIBLE) whitehouse.gov. You don't want to type in anything else besides gov otherwise you get some pretty funky web sites, let's just say that. Don't know if you ever made that mistake but we did. Let me tell you what, that was embarrassing. OK, Ed, thank you, appreciate it.
HENRY: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Our special investigations unit is hot on new developments in the U.S. Airways flight that crashed into the Hudson River, something about the engines actually sent red flags flying at the FAA awhile ago. We'll tell you about them.
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PHILLIPS: Divers hope that sonar equipment will lead them to the missing left engine of U.S. Airways flight 1549. That engine still somewhere in the Hudson River. The right engine was actually found still attached to the body of the plane. Investigators believe that a double bird strike is actually what brought that plane down. Our special investigations unit correspondent Abbie Boudreau is here with new information about the engines used on that aircraft. I know -- it's a very much speculative situation. You were saying, we have to be very tight on this because we still...
ABBIE BOUDREAU, SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: The last thing we want to do is speculate. This is just extra information about this particular engine that was involved in this -- well, engines that were used in aircrafts like the one in this crash on Thursday. So here's what we know. Just three weeks ago we learned the FAA issued what's called an airworthiness directive. A directive is issued so inspections can be done and potential problems can be addressed. In this case, the FAA was calling for engines of a certain make and model to be inspected because of previous compressor stalls involved in a very small number of flights.
The FAA tells CNN the engines from Thursday's flights were subject to that directive as well. We talked to a company that manufactures the engines for the Airbus A-320. A company spokesperson tells us all 3,000 engines have been inspected within the past month and only a total of 12 were found with temperatures higher than normal that could cause one of these stalls. The company said it was exceedingly unlikely that the plane that ditched into the Hudson River last week contained one of those engines. The FAA says all U.S. airlines fully complied with that directive, including the U.S. Airways plane that went down.
Meanwhile, the NTSB continues to focus its investigation on a flock of birds as the cause of the engines' failures. The flight data recorder indicates there's good reason to focus on just that. So we are supposed to find out more from the NTSB later today. Of course, we'll update everyone on all of that news.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Abbie.
You might soon be paying a lot more for strawberries and other crops from Florida. A round of really cold weather has settled over the Sunshine State and that's bad news for farmers.
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PHILLIPS: Farmers in Florida could face some big losses from unusually cold weather. Temperatures were below freezing this morning across a big part of the state. In parts of the Tampa area, last night's lows were in the 20s and that's bad news for strawberry growers in Plant City. The (INAUDIBLE) pick their crops early or spray them with water to try to prevent damage. It's going to be even colder tonight and the Miami suburbs could see a low of 30 degrees. There's a lot of cold weather on the map today. Karen Maginnis keeping track of what's happening right now for us. Hi Karen.
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PHILLIPS: Now that Barack Obama is president, he's pushing an ambitious clean energy agenda and he's not backing off, even though oil and gas prices have fallen sharply. Let's go to cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow. She's got our energy fix from New York. Hey, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, well a lot of goals laid out yesterday in that inaugural address. The clear one is change the energy policy. In the next three years, Barack Obama wants to double the amount of alternative energy that is produced in this country. If you look at the chart you'll see today renewables make up just a small portion of the energy that we produce and consume in this country. Take a look at that chart. The data is from 2006. It is the most recent that is available to us, but just a small fraction coming from wind and also coming from solar.
Now, advocates of wind and solar say sure, you can double output in three years, but you need Federal aid to do that. We know the industry has been struggling. We're in the midst of a recession. Credit is tight. Funding for these projects is really drying up. If you have a lot of clean power, you need a lot of capital to do that. Right now the most renewable energy plants are more expensive to build and to operate than coal plants or natural gas plants. Those are more expensive to get that power to the consumer. So to drive more investment in alternative energy, the stimulus package that the House Democrats presented last week will (INAUDIBLE) sets aside $20 billion in tax cuts and tax credits for the production of renewable energy. While visiting a plant in Ohio where they build parts for all those wind turbines, President Obama said this investment, this big investment is money well spent. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Renewable energy isn't something pie in the sky. It's not part of a far-off future. It's happening all across America right now. It's providing alternatives to foreign oil right now. It can create millions of additional jobs and entire new industries if we act right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: President Obama has also called for power companies to get 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources in not too long, by the year 2025. That is a lofty goal, Kyra. We'll be on top of it and see just what happens. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Poppy, thanks.
You could say the United States is at the corner of Bush and Obama right now. We're going to take you to a corner of the country where Bush Street is already in the rear view mirror.
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PHILLIPS: As always, Rick Sanchez is working hard for his money back there. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, what you working on, Rick?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We got a lot of stuff. Actually, it's all about the changes. You know, it seems to me, and probably to you, too, Kyra, that Barack Obama's coming out and saying, look, I've got a point to make here. We're not going to talk the talk; we're going to walk the walk. We're going to make some cuts. There's going to be a $100,000 freeze. People are not going to be allowed to lobby anymore. They're certainly not going to be allowed to lobby back to me, sending a message to the world essentially saying, I'll close down Gitmo if I have to, probably do that sometime tomorrow.
I mean look, there's something going on here and it's as much perception as it is reality. But both are important at a time like this in this country. And as we get going here, what we're going to do with our show is, you know that expression, cutting to the chase?
PHILLIPS: We always cut to the chase, don't we?
SANCHEZ: We know we're going to be doing it from now every day at 3:00. We're going to be cutting to the change.
PHILLIPS: Cutting to the change.
SANCHEZ: Right to it. He says he's going to change things. Let's see, put it out there, exactly what are you going to change. We're going to take you through it item by item. What?
PHILLIPS: More transparent, that information will be given to us more freely, that it's going to be a whole new era. The secrecy in Washington has been going on far too long. That era is over now.
SANCHEZ: I'll tell you, it's the kind of thing the American people want to see, want to hear, but they want it checked on. That's what we're going to try to do for you today as we bring you the stories. By the way, talk about a guy who's really angry about environmental policy in this country, wants to see change there, Bobby Kennedy. He's going to join us live to talk about this.
PHILLIPS: Sounds good. Thanks, Rick.
Well, it isn't very nice, what the heck was someone doing vandalizing the statue of former President George W. Bush. Someone got a little spray happy. There it is, yellow paint. This is Bush 41's monument in Houston. Looks like a crossing guard, actually. Police think that a homeless man is actually the culprit. Hope Mrs. Bush doesn't get a hold of him. The paint came out, by the way.
And George Bush has not only lost his job and had a statue of his dad defaced. He's also lost his street at least temporarily. Pranksters in San Francisco changed Bush Street to Obama Street for the inauguration. They covered several signs with pretty realistic decoys for several blocks, all in the heart of the financial district. But this is one transition that won't last long. The fake signs are expected to get pulled down.
As we said before, the chief justice probably knows now that we are in the news and we've been in the news for years, and that the teleprompter is not always your friend.
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PHILLIPS: You have to admit the oath of office could have gone a little more smoothly yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE: I, Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear --
PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA: I, Barack hussein Obama do solemnly swear --
ROBERTS: That I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully --
OBAMA: That I will execute --
ROBERTS: Faithfully the office of president of the United States --
OBAMA: The office of president of the United States faithfully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, that was a source of discussion amongst CNN's analysts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: This is why I love the news business, because you never know what's going to happen. Here you have the perpetual "A" student, John Roberts, the guy's never made a mistake in public before and he thought he could administer the oath by memory, because it's only 35 words.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Laid out in the constitution.
TOOBIN: But twice he got the words wrong. First, he put faithfully after execute the office of the president of the United States. Then left out the word execute the second time he did it. You could see Obama --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He knew the words and paused.
TOOBIN: Right. Obama sort of started to chuckle a bit because he knew that Roberts had made a mistake.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think he's going to do? What do you think's going through Obama's mind? Am I going to correct the chief justice of the United States? I think I know this oath. But maybe he knows it better than I do. So Obama kind of balked a little bit.
TOOBIN: He rolled with it. He actually kind of rolled with it. It's kind of an ad lib. You see these guys in your impossibly perfect standards. He made a mistake, but he got caught up in the moment (INAUDIBLE).
JOHN RIDLEY, WRITER DIRECTOR: Your job is to come in, deliver your one line, and get off the stage. And that's it. But this guy, I mean, everybody has been preparing for this. It wasn't like he didn't know it wasn't coming. And to not get it right, let's not hammer him too hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: What do you think President Obama's priorities should be for his first 100 days? Here's what some of you e-mailed to us. Sidney writes, I would like President Obama to end the ban on stem cell research. I have ALS and it might save my life.
And Paulette writes, in his first 100 days, President Obama should think jobs, jobs, jobs, not just any jobs, but good paying, lasting jobs that go green, make greenbacks here in the USA.
And here's Walt. He writes to help people with bills that we need a stimulus package giving $3,000 per person. It may be a lot of money. But the banks can get billions in the blink of an eye. And here's what Mary Ann writes. She says, change, don't ask, don't tell, don't ask. Change Gitmo no more. Change focus of immediate gratification to a green future for our children's children and bring our troops home. Thanks to all of you for e-mailing us. We sure appreciate it.
Rick Sanchez takes it from here.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Kyra. Here we go. Consider this day and every day during this hour, we're going to be cutting to the chase or in this case, cutting to the change or maybe the lack thereof. Number one, President Obama will sign executive orders to undo Bush policies. Foremost among them, Gitmo, bigger message, America no longer tortures. You tell us.
Number two, President Obama tells his top staffers I'm freezing your pay. And if you work for me, sorry, but you can't cash in later as a lobbyist. Enough said.
Number three, President Obama promised to meet with military leaders to end the war in Iraq. Today he's doing just that.
