Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Relationship Between Facial Structure and Personality; President Obama's Priorities; Rush Limbaugh Speaks at CPAC
Aired February 28, 2009 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: You want your kids to go to college, but in this economy, the cost is simply too much. You want your family to be healthy, but sometimes the cost of just a regular checkup is just too much too high. And you need to fill up your car and heat your home, but you don't want to pollute the air.
Our focus this hour, President Obama's agenda on education, health care and the environment and how it directly impacts you. And we want to, or course, hear from you.
So our e-mail question today, what do you want to see to make the country smarter, healthier and greener? Send us your thoughts at weekends@cnn.com. We will get some on the air because we got an incredible panel right here.
Joining us from Little Rock, Arkansas, former surgeon general Dr. Jocelyn Elders right there. In Washington, Cynthia Brown, the director of education policy for the Center for American progress. And also in Washington, Denise Bode with the American Wind Energy Association. And one more in Washington, Kerry Budoff-Brown from politico.com and our Josh Levs right here in Atlanta watching all of your e-mails and ready to start sending some of those questions to our experts there.
So let's kind of just go over all of these things. We talked about a huge budget, a huge plan that the president has. And we're paring it down to some of the things that he wants to focus on, in the next coming weeks. We're talking about education. We're talking about energy and health care.
So let's begin on the topic of education. Cynthia, give me an idea, give me a grade. Give us a grade for public education as we see it now.
CYNTHIA BROWN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Well, taken as a whole, looking at all the students we have in this country, I'd have to give it a grade of C.
WHITFIELD: And so how do we bring it up to an A?
BROWN: Well, we have to do some of the things that President Obama is talking about. We have to expand preschool so that we get - so that every kid who needs it gets a preschool education. Actually, in European countries, some of them it's universal. We need to upgrade our teaching force, provide opportunities for teachers to learn their skill more, to reward those teachers who are effective, make sure that they go to work in the most challenging schools, and get extra money for taking that on.
And we need to have higher standards, better tests, and we need to have different ways of working with kids who struggle the most. For example, by expanding the school day and year so that they have more opportunities to catch up.
WHITFIELD: Also in this hour, I'll talk to you about, you know, what happened to the psyche of the student who goes to school and the place is in shambles because too many American public schools right now are just crumbling. It's a mess and that, too, is where the focus of some of these monies from the Obama administration is planning to direct.
So Dr. Jocelyn Elders, let's talk now about health care. Your prognosis for health care in America.
DR. JOCELYN ELDERS, FMR. U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: My prognosis for health care in America is that if we want to save our country and be the kind of country that we're proud of, we're going to have to make sure that we have accessible, affordable health care for all of our citizens, including our children. We could easily have primary preventive health care for our children beginning in schools.
But we've decided that we've got to have health care for our old people. We got health care, we approved CHIP and I think that's wonderful. That's going to help lots of children. Now we got to make sure that we have health care for our working force. We have to have healthy people in healthy communities, a health care system that's available, accessible, affordable, and it has to be prevention, purpose driven, and solution oriented.
WHITFIELD: OK. That's a lot we're going to delve into. Because you know, you talk about affordability. It has to be accessible but then when you talk about affordability, it also means that your neighbor, everybody is going to have to pay for it to make sure that it is accessible for everyone.
All right. Let's talk about the environment. Denise Bode is there a bright future when it comes to America and being energy efficient?
DENISE BODE, AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSN.: Oh, absolutely. In fact, a clean energy revolution has begun. In 2008, we added almost 8300 megawatts of new clean wind energy in the United States leading all new generation added and now the U.S. is the leader in wind energy.
So when you talk about health as Dr. Elders did, you think about adding clean energy. And that's a fabulous opportunity. Last two years, we doubled the amount of renewable energy in this country. We're on track now to double it again in the next three years, which is what President Obama has asked us to do. And so we're very optimistic about our future.
WHITFIELD: My goodness, I'm hearing optimism on all fronts here. So, Carrie Budoff-Brown from politico.com, White House correspondent, you've gotten pretty familiar with the White House plan, with President Obama's plan on all of these three fronts. He's an optimist, too, but realistically, this really is very huge to tackle. CARRIE BUDOFF-BROWN, POLITICO.COM: It absolutely is. Any one of these pieces would be a huge struggle and a huge win for a president in good times. He is going to try to tackle energy, education and health care. All flash points that are going to bring out plenty of supporters but also the adversaries and big, big dollar advertising efforts are ready, you know, are underway on both sides on healthcare, I think you're going to see it on energy
The president again obviously, though, today came up strong in his weekly address and said, listen, I know the special interests are going to fight this, but so am I. And I'm willing to go to the mat for it. And it was an interesting change of tone for a president who has been very conciliatory for the last few weeks. He's really laying down a marker here and warning people that he's going to the bat for this hugely ambitious agenda.
WHITFIELD: OK. Carrie, we liked you so much last week we wanted to bring you back because you have the inside scope on how the Obama administration is moving forward on all of this policy making. And we always love our Josh Levs. He's back too, fielding a lot of the e- mails. So, Josh, give me an idea. Is there seem to be like a theme from a lot of the e-mailers, the folks that have been sending their responses about how in the world can America be greener, healthier and smarter?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a theme. It's kind of tying all these together, I tell you. It will be interesting to see how our guests handle this throughout this hour. Let's zoom in on the board for a second. I'll tell everyone while I'm here. I'm not leaving this spot the whole hour. I'm monitoring the Facebook page Josh Levs CNN.
As you see things, you suddenly get question son Facebook, you can send it there or you can keep using the e-mail now. I tell you, Fred, we are hearing from a lot of people who say they're excited because they feel they have a president they can believe in, who is going to do these things. But we're also hearing from a lot of people who question whether money is enough to really do this.
Some say democrats are just trying to throw money at the problem and they say in the end it's government bureaucracy really the way to make our country greener, smarter, healthier. So these are the kinds things we'll want to hear from our guests throughout this hour. It's not only what's the plan, but also what can skeptics out there hold on to make them think OK something will actually get done.
WHITFIELD: OK. We're going to delve into all of this. All right. So how do we actually get to this point? Bring your own toilet paper to school? Is there hope for public education?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: Tonight I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be a community college or a four-year school. Vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
All right. More education, better schools. It's all part of President Obama's plan and one of the issues that we're focusing on this hour.
CNN's Kate Bolduan recently sat down with the president's new education chief Arne Duncan. And, Kate, does he think that he has the tools to actually get the job done? It's a huge job to do.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He sure does. And he calls it an unprecedented opportunity. Why? Well, the Department of Education's budget has effectively doubled in recent weeks. Thanks to $100 billion from the stimulus package and now a spending increase in the President's 2010 budget proposal. It's clear that education has become a top priority for President Obama and so to learn more, we sat down with the new education chief.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: It will be the goal of this administration to ensure -
BOLDUAN: President Obama wants an innovative approach to education.
OBAMA: By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
BOLDUAN: Ambitious goals. We sat down with the man in charge of making them a reality. Education secretary Arne Duncan.
What right now can you say is your number one priority as the secretary of education?
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: We want to dramatically improve the lives of our children. And I'm just convinced education can get a lot better in this country at every level.
BOLDUAN: Duncan's shy on specifics of how he's going to spend all the new money, but he does have a strategy.
DUNCAN: I think I have a reputation for really being data driven. If I'm going to take the same methodology here is we're going to look at the data program by program, district by district, and we'll be able to tell pretty quickly what's working and what's not.
BOLDUAN: Two ideas measured by international standards and try a longer school day or year.
DUNCAN: We have a significantly shorter school year, 20, 25, 30 days versus India, versus China, versus other places. Our students are at competitive disadvantage. BOLDUAN: Duncan is now working in the shadows of one of the country's worst school systems. D.C. public schools have been ranked last in reading and math scores. Unfortunately, that's not his only battle.
KEVIN CAREY, EDUCATION SECTOR: There are 50 states. There are 14,000 school districts. 90,000 schools. But they all have their own ideas, their own funding sources, their own local leadership. So the challenge too from Washington, D.C., implement broad national policy is a mix.
BOLDUAN: And with a high school dropout rate at 30 percent and squeezed state budgets threatening teachers and classrooms nationwide, Duncan's challenges are mounting.
DUNCAN: None of this will be an overnight success, but we can and we must get dramatically better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: When I asked Secretary Duncan, he was just getting started but I asked him what his measure of success will be, and he says to see improvement in high school and college graduation rates. While we're waiting to hear what kinds of changes could be demanded in order to achieve those goals, we are starting to see some moves to increase funding for pretty much all levels of education starting from early childhood education programs all the way through college through allowing for more funding for college financial aid. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Kate. Appreciate it. At the White House. We'll talk a little bit more. A lot more in fact about the education plans this point forward for President Obama.
All right. In Washington, Cynthia Brown, the director of education policy for the Center for American Progress, back with us. Also, in Washington, Carrie Budoff-Brown from politico.com as the White House correspondent and Josh Levs sifting through so many e-mails coming our way on this topic and more.
All right. Ladies, Ms. Brown, let's talk a little bit more about this. You still have to wonder while we hear from Arne Duncan, while we hear from the president great huge plans to make public schools better, when you hear that Detroit in some Detroit public schools kids are being asked to bring their own supplies and that includes toilet paper, it's much more than rebuilding structurally schools in various public school districts. It really means starting from the ground up in so many ways. Is this possible? And achievable?
BROWN: Well, it's going to have to be possible and achievable and we're really going to have to roll up our sleeves and get about the business of improving education particularly in the most challenging areas like Detroit. You know, wealth and property tax bases aren't distributed equally around the country, and so some communities, some big cities like Detroit are suffering budget cuts and losses that are much more significant than others.
WHITFIELD: Also are you saying that - can you really remove the disparity of certain school districts? There are always going to be wealthier school districts that have more. You know they have more resources in which to make things happen and then there is going to be another school district that's still, no matter what, is not going to get enough.
BROWN: Well, part of the federal government role in education is to direct that extra money to those communities and those schools that have the largest proportions of low income kids and also for disabled kids. But states and cities themselves need to do more to make sure that those schools and those students that need the most get the most.
Or else we're never going to solve our problems and they're going to have to keep bring toilet paper to school.
WHITFIELD: All right. Josh has been getting a lot of e-mails, comments, questions from people.
LEVS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: What kinds of questions can we toss at Ms. Brown or Carrie?
LEVS: I tell you, let's zoom in on the board because I want to start off with this one from Anastasia. A lot of people are writing us about this. Check this out, Fred. "The No Child Left Behind Act negatively impacts education of gifted kids. My son is four year old with an IQ of 140. He is not allowed to enter school year early. There are no programs for gifted kids. I would have to be rich to have him attend a gifted school. Where does my son fit in?"
And you know, Fred, the argument we're hearing this from others is that No Child Left Behind has left kids worried about bringing up the kids who are academically at the bottom and not really helping those who are most capable. So what is being done for them and what will be done to them?
WHITFIELD: So Carrie, is there an answer directly from the Obama administration on this?
BUDOFF-BROWN: I think what you saw from Obama during the campaign and I think you'll see this continued focus on him, he is one of the largest applause lines he got during the campaign was when he would say No Child Left Behind has to be fixed and he's going to pay attention to it. So I think that the pressure is on him. Supporters want to see him change what is wrong with it, bringing in more money to take care of the needs that No Child Left Behind brings on.
He has not turned away from it completely. I think he believes that schools and teachers need to be held accountable. But he's going to put funding towards it and I think Cynthia will say a lot of money has gone to education in the last few weeks. Their numbers have grown - for the budget have grown astronomically and it's Arne Duncan's responsibility now to take this huge pot of money and use it wisely.
WHITFIELD: OK. What else, Josh? LEVS: You know what. That's a perfect thing to end on. Because check this out. Let's zoom in on the board, Bob just posted at the Facebook page. "I can't help but wonder what President Obama's plans are to make sure the stimulus money sent to schools is spent wisely."
He wants to know very structurally here what kinds of watch dogs will there be to follow these public dollars and make sure they're not wasted.
WHITFIELD: So, Ms. Brown would the whitehouse.gov website be enough? Because we already heard from the president that this is where people will be able to watch the money.
BROWN: Well, this administration is very committed to transparency. As you've heard, they're going to be reporting on how all the money is spent. They're also going to send out very serious guidance and constantly use the bully pulpit about using money wisely. I was on a conference call yesterday with some government officials that just kept reiterating how important it is to make wise decisions that are really going to improve the teaching and learning of our kids.
WHITFIELD: OK. Josh, you got another real quick?
LEVS: Yes, I'll toss the topic at you because we got an e-mail, and we got Facebook. A lot of people are asking what's actually in this plan to help higher education that will partly keep kids there, also allow these schools to continue to offer lots of programs. And what does it boil down? What's really in there for beyond high school? Additional programs whether it's college or some sort of trade school?
WHITFIELD: All right. We're going to tackle all of those things. We're going to head to another topic after this short break, but then we're going to revisit toward the end of the show all three of these areas of interest - education, health care, as well as energy.
In our next segment, you know, segment, we're going to be talking about health care. Why so many households have to choose between whether they can afford to take their kids to the doctor or whether they can afford, you know, to put food on the table.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt. Health care reform cannot wait. It must not wait. And it will not wait another year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. So that was earlier in the week and now next week, the president is going to be holding a health reform forum where he'll be talking to Americans directly about their health care experiences in this country. So let's delve a little bit more into the expectations of what he might be hearing. I'm sure an earful from a lot of Americans on health care.
From Little Rock, Arkansas, former surgeon general Dr. Jocelyn Elders. Also in Washington, Carrie Budoff-Brown from politico.com, White House correspondent. And Josh Levs going through all of your e-mails. You've got lots of questions about health care.
So Dr. Elders, what in the world should the president be expecting to hear from people? The frustrations about getting good health care and being able to afford them.
ELDERS: You know, health care should be our human right. And we should not be arguing about health care this late. We've tried several times to pass universal access to health care for all of our people. We got social security, we got Medicare and Medicaid. We got care for our elderly. And it's time that we began to offer and have the availability of health care for all of our citizens.
WHITFIELD: But it ends up boiling down to money, right? Isn't that at the center of the argument, can America afford to make sure that every American has health care.
ELDERS: We can't afford not to. You can't educate children if they aren't healthy and you can't keep them healthy if they're not educated. And I think it's time we stop listening to politicians telling us it's money. We've got to educate our people. We've got to help illiterate societies. We have to make sure we all get involved in having the kind of health. We can do more to improve our own health than all the doctoring that we've had in the past 100 years.
WHITFIELD: So Carrie, we already know that the Obama administration quite quickly after inauguration was able to make sure that something like four million uninsured children immediately were able to get the kind of health care. Just primary health care to make sure that they don't continue to go uninsured. About does the Obama administration think realistically that every American can get health care? Can be insured under this universal health care plan? Realistically?
BUDOFF-BROWN: That is their goal. Obama put forward a plan that he would find or asking for $635 billion for a reserve fund. Now, that would not bring universal health care. He's asking Congress to come up with about 40 percent more -- $400 billion more to fund basically a $1 trillion plan, but I think watch Obama's language in that, he is not just talking about covering the uninsured, he's talking about cost containment of health care. Which is an issue that affects more than just this 47 million who are uninsured.
And that's his way of getting a broader buy in to reforming the health care system. And he's tying it into being an economic issue, not so much a social issue. Once again to make it a broader interest to the people he going to have to, you know, win support from. These are touchy issues. Issues that involve doctors, very personal issues.
But he's saying listen this is a an economic issue. All of us are affected by the high costs. Covering the uninsured is just one piece of it. It also affects you if you have insurance -
WHITFIELD: Right.
BUDOFF-BROWN: Because the costs are so high.
WHITFIELD: Josh, I wonder are people getting that personal with us? Are they revealing what their experiences have been as they try to navigate health care, are they expressing their concerns about whether if they are uninsured they'll ever be covered?
LEVS: Yes. We are getting some of that kind of thing. It's interesting. We're hearing from some people who have very specific situations and things they've been through. And I'll show you that.
First of all, one of you just said, one of the top ones right here, Bob Donnelly wrote us this, interesting "what is the projected cost of universal health care for all Americans?" Did I hear it just there or is it 40% more than $635 billion? I mean do we actually have a figure for this?
WHITFIELD: Carrie.
BUDOFF-BROWN: Well, the figure that's been then around is a $1 trillion - it would cost $1 trillion.
LEVS: So $1 trillion is what they're say would go be the cost for universal health care in America?
BUDOFF-BROWN: That's the expectation they need Congress to come up with $400 billion if they want to do universal health care.
LEVS: Well, let me show you an example of someone who got on our Facebook and they're talking about some personal stories. We got one from Regina who talks about dealing with a veteran who has been unable to get all the care he needs and unable to get disability. We don't have to read the whole thing. But this is from Regina, for example, we've heard that President Obama obviously has done things to help veterans. What could be done in a case like that? One good specific situation to make sure veterans get the care they need and get the disability when it's time.
WHITFIELD: So, Dr. Elders, I think most people would think that vets are taken care of. There is a safety net in place? Not the case?
ELDERS: Well, not for all veterans. I think this is why we see some of this going on and we've got to put all of our multiple little quilt pieces together to create a full quilt such that all Americans are taken care of. You see, everybody gets sick here. The problem that we have is we don't get health care. We've got the best sick care system in the world. We just don't have a health care system.
WHITFIELD: What is it that distinguishes the United States from, say, countries like Denmark making sure that everyone is cared for, that those tax dollars pay for that? Why can't we do that?
ELDERS: Well, one of the reasons we can't do that, a big reason, is we have a health illiterate society. And we've not educated our society to be healthy. We spend more dollars for health care than any other country in the world and yet we do not have the best health as judged by all the factors that we use to measure health. So -
WHITFIELD: OK. Dr. Elders, thanks so much we're going to talk a lot more on this. We're not done with this topic because it really does get under the skin, so to speak, of so many people about healthcare and why can't we all have it and what's it going to cost for all of us to make sure that we get it. So let it be the end energy use tunnel, is there?
Other stories we're working on, and then we'll continue to get back to our focus of those issues under the Obama plan. President Obama says he knows it won't be easy to get his $3.6 trillion budget proposal through congress, but in his Saturday radio and internet address, the president said it represents the change Americans want, Americans rather want.
Conservatives gathering at a political conference in Washington are sharply critical of the Obama budget plan. Any minute now, we should hear the result of a straw poll indicating the leading contenders for the 2012 nomination for president. And we'll let you know those results as soon as we get them. She kind of disappear off the panel there. That was interesting.
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at that conference in about a half an hour from now. CNN plans live coverage of that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right. America's agenda: energy, education, health care, all of that. We're taking in your questions for our very intelligent, exciting panel addressing, how in the world do we make this country smarter, healthier and greener? E-mail us at weekends@cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Something to get you thinking here. Does the shape of your nose have anything to do with your personality? How about your eyes or your hair? Some people actually seem to think so.
Here now is CNN's Judy Fortin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's all in your face. Your personality, that is. At least if you're a believer in personology. That's the belief that there's a relationship between your facial structure and your personality.
NAOMI TICKLE, PRESIDENT, FACE LANGUAGE INST.: A judge in the 1920s developed the system that we use today, and he initially came up with about 200 traits and then narrowed it down to 68 traits, with a 92 percent accuracy. And it does go across all cultures.
FORTIN: So what exactly are those traits? To clarify that, we need to do the numbers. TICKLE: We measure the hair, the width of the face, the set of the ears, the position of the ears, whether they're forward or backward on the head, the shape of the forehead.
FORTIN: OK. So now what do those numbers mean?
TICKLE: For example, somebody who has very close eyes, they're very good with detail. They don't like interruptions. They don't like people being late. A wider-eyed person is much more laid back. And they're the multitask people and they oftentimes run late.
FORTIN: But don't get hung up on the eyes. The shape of our head can also suggest certain personality traits.
TICKLE: The narrow-faced versus the wide-faced. The narrow-faced individual builds their confidence through knowledge, so when they get into new situations, there's a lot of hesitancy. But once they know what they're doing, they're off and running. With a wide-faced person, it will be much more -- will wing it. And they make it up as they go and it doesn't phase them.
FORTIN: And for the practitioner of personology, each of our features can help them get a sense of just what kind of person we really are.
TICKLE: We look at the shape of the noses. They Roman-shaped nose is -- likes to be in charge. They like to be the boss. They're also very aware of costs. Whereas the ski jump nose person spends all the money.
FORTIN: Even the hair on top of our heads seems to be some sort of tattletale trait teller.
TICKLE: The finer the hair, the more sensitive the person is to smell, taste, touch, sound, whereas the coarse-haired person, it takes a lot more to get under the skin.
FORTIN: So first impressions really can count, as long as you mow what you're looking for when you're reading those facial clears.
Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But to truly transform our economy, to protect our security and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Renewable energy, clean energy, clean coal, what does it all mean to you?
Let's talk some more as we focus this hour on some of the policies that the president will be focusing on himself in the next couple of weeks.
In Washington, Denise Bode, with the American Wind Energy Association, is with us. Also in Washington Carrie Budoff Brown from Politico.com. And Josh Lev has been going through all of your responses, your e- mails, your questions about energy. What does it mean to you?
All right.
So Denise, let's begin with you. You know, quickly, what does the president mean about achievable, renewable energy?
DENISE BODE, AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION: As I said, renewable energy, wind energy has grown faster in recent years than ever in our history. We think we can double renewable electricity in the next three years. You know...
WHITFIELD: But part of it's going cost, because to be green means you also have to have deep pockets; doesn't it?
BODE: No. In fact, it's very exciting.
You know, we've added almost 85,000 jobs in the last several years, 35,000 last year. We added 70 new manufacturing facilities, 55 just in the last year. It's getting more and more inexpensive to build wind farms.
Plus, it means American jobs. And if we can get a permanent commitment to renewable energy, which the president's been talking about, a renewable electricity standard in place, it will be even less expensive, because it will send the signal to utilities and business as they invest billions of dollars to build this new industry.
WHITFIELD: Yes. So long term, it's less expensive, but, you know, a lot of our, I guess, viewers have questions about how feasible this really is and who really benefits from...
BODE: Sure.
WHITFIELD: ... clean energy, renewable energy, all that good stuff.
So, Josh...
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
WHITFIELD: ... you've been telling me that some folks want to know, really, what does clean energy mean for me directly?
LEVS: Exactly. You're spot on.
You know, while we do this show, there's been this conversation kind of raging over at the Facebook page here, Josh Levs CNN. You just click on the discussion board, and people are talking about it like crazy.
I want to show you an example of what you were just saying, Fred. This is from Megan (ph).
She says she's heard about tax cuts for buying certain things, but "... what other benefits to buying and being more energy efficient (besides helping the environment, obviously) can we see with the new policy?"
So not just reasonable businesses have to do it, but why will people on their own have an economic incentive beyond that one tax break to go green?
WHITFIELD: All right.
Denise?
BODE: Well, I think the answer is you've got an energy source once you build the wind farms and the transmission to move it that's free. And it's infinite.
My friend, Boone Pickens, calls us the Saudi Arabia of wind in the United States. And we are. And it is a source of energy that can't be taken away from us.
WHITFIELD: OK.
So, Carrie, what's the president's response to a lot of folks who say, I'm a bit reticent on this whole idea, I don't see the direct benefits? Is he ready for that?
CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN, POLITICO. COM: Yes. I mean, this is what he's been talking about.
He refers to these new energy -- the renewable sources of energy as a way to -- the way towards job creation, for instance. He sees the potential for boosting production of wind solar turbine, wind panels, turbines. This is part of his jobs program. So he's not just talking about becoming more energy efficient, he's talking about economic recovery.
WHITFIELD: OK.
BROWN: And then, you know, he ties it back to just reducing dependence on foreign oil. And this is what he talks.
WHITFIELD: All right.
Josh, what else?
LEVS: Really quickly, want to touch on the concept of clean coal. Let's zoom in really quickly.
I won't read the whole thing, but this is from Karl. "Living in the coal fields of eastern Kentucky, being a third generation disabled coal miner, my question is how could any intelligent human being say, 'clean coal'?"
Really quickly, is it worth putting this much -- putting any large amount of money into efforts to create clean coal? And just how much is the Obama administration putting into it?
WHITFIELD: All right. Oh -- go ahead.
LEVS: Fred, your call.
WHITFIELD: You want to go ahead, Carrie, on that one?
BROWN: Yes. He talks about it a lot.
He says, you know, the United States is abundant, has abundant sources of coal. And he's determined to find a way to make it a clean source.
But, again, on that point, that's a very controversial piece where the Coen brothers, who are the big Hollywood producers, made a commercial that mocks that suggestion. And so I think that that touches a nerve with folks, but there's a lot of coal that's out there, that in this country that's a source in the United States, that he's going to continue talking about in conjunction with these other renewable sources.
WHITFIELD: OK. All right.
Carrie, thanks so much.
And, you know, I'm sorry. We're going to have to cut this particular segment on energy a bit short because we've got some other news that we went to tend to as well.
All right.
So Denise Bode -- but I still want to you hang around, because we think maybe we'll be able to revisit all this before the hour is over. We'll see.
All right.
So Josh, thanks so much for those e-mails as well.
We're going to take a short break for now, and then we're going to talk about -- OK, no. We're not going to take a break.
We're going to take you straight to Washington right now, and listen to this guy, radio host, conservative Rush Limbaugh. Apparently, he is now kind of commandeering or leading the Republican Party. This is the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington right now.
(APPLAUSE)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Thank you all. I can't tell you how wonderful that makes me feel. It happens everywhere I go, but it's still special to hear.
(LAUGHTER)
If you all will indulge me, I learned something -- I guess it's early Friday morning that I -- Friday morning is when I learned this. I learned that Fox, God love them, is televising this speech on the Fox News Channel, which means...
(APPLAUSE)
Which means, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my first ever address to the nation.
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush!
LIMBAUGH: Thank you. Thank you. Now, I have someone in back taking phone numbers.
In fact, I would like to introduce to you my security chief, a man who runs all of my security. His name is Joseph Stalin.
Joseph, would you please...
(APPLAUSE)
I am safe from any liberal attack in public because they would be afraid of offending Stalin.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, the opportunity here to address the nation is a serious one. It really is. And I want to take it seriously. I want to address something.
I know that people are probably watching this who never have listened to my program and may not even really know what conservatism is. They think they do based on how they've been told, the way we've been impugned and aligned and so forth.
One of the things that is totally erroneous about me -- and I just want to get this up front -- is that I'm pompous and that I am arrogant. Neither of these things are remotely true. I can tell you a joke to illustrate this.
Larry King passed away. He goes to heaven, is greeted by St. Peter at the gates
St. Peter says, "Welcome, Mr. King. It's great to have you here. I want to show you around, give you an idea of what's here. Maybe you can pick a place that you'd like to reside."
King says, "I just have one question. Is Rush Limbaugh here?"
"No. No, no, no. He's still got a lot of time yet, Mr. King." So St. Peter begins the tour. Larry King sees the various places, and they're just beyond anything we can imagine in terms of beauty.
He finally gets to the biggest room of all with this giant thrown, and over the throne is a flashing, beautiful, angelic neon sign that says "Rush Limbaugh." And Larry King looks at St. Peter and says, "I thought you said he wasn't here."
"He's not. He's not. This is God's room. He just thinks he's Rush Limbaugh."
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
So, you see, I'm not pompous.
Now, seriously, for those of you watching on C-SPAN, as well, and on Fox, I want to tell you who we all are in this room. I want to tell you who conservatives are.
We conservatives have not done a good enough job of just laying out basically who we are because we make the mistake of assuming that people know. Well, what they know is largely incorrect based on the way we are portrayed in pop culture, in the drive-by media, by the Democrat Party.
Let me tell you who we conservatives are.
We love people.
(APPLAUSE)
When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings.
We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see is potential.
We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work, we do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations, and too much government.
(APPLAUSE)
We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
(APPLAUSE) We believe that the Preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights -- among them life...
(APPLAUSE)
... liberty, freedom...
(APPLAUSE)
... and the pursuit of happiness.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you.
We don't want to tell anybody how to live. That's up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we'll try to stop and make it, because it's -- but it's a waste.
We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that's been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state, by a failed war on poverty that has...
(APPLAUSE)
We love the people of this country, and we want this to be the greatest country it can be, but we do understand, as people created and endowed by our creator, we're all individuals. We resist the effort to group us. We resist the effort to make us feel that we're all the same, that we're no different than anybody else.
We are all different. There are no two things or people in this world who are created in a way that they end up with equal outcomes. That's up to them. They are created equal to give the chance.
(APPLAUSE)
We don't hate anybody. We don't -- I mean, the racism in this country, if you ask me -- and I know many people in this audience. Let me just deal with this head on.
You know what the cliche is of a conservative? A racist, sexist, bigoted homophobe. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, but if you were paying attention -- and I know you were -- the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year.
(APPLAUSE)
It was not us asking whether Barack Obama was authentic. What we were asking is, is he wrong? We concluded yes.
We still think so, but we didn't ask if he was authentically black. We didn't say, as some Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader said, Barack is not authentic, he's not got any slave blood, he's really not down for the struggle, but his wife does, so don't expect the race industry to go away. Southern Christian Leadership Conference. You may not even know this, it wasn't reported in the drive-by media -- the racism, the sexism, the bigotry that we are all charged with.
Just so you across the United States of America know and you will see demonstrated as the afternoon goes on, it doesn't exist on our side. We want everybody to succeed. I am...
(APPLAUSE)
Do you know why? Do you know why? We want to country to succeed, and for the country to succeed, its people, its individuals must succeed.
Everyone among us must be pursuing his ambition or her desire, whatever, with excellence, trying to be the best they can be. Not told, as they are told by the Democrat Party, you really can't do that, you don't have what it takes. Besides, you're a minority or you're a woman, and there are too many people willing to discriminate against you. You can't get anywhere. You need to depend on us.
Well, take a look. Someone has to say this. I am thrilled for the opportunity to say it in my first national address to the nation. I'm going to touch on this in more detail in a moment, but this is just to get you thinking.
Take a look at all of the constituency groups that for 50 years have been depending on the Democrat Party to improve their lives, and you tell me if you find any. They're still complaining. They are still griping about the same problems.
Their problems don't get fixed by government. And those lives have been poisoned. Those lives have been cut short by false promises from government representatives who have said, don't worry about it, we'll take care of you. Just vote for us.
(APPLAUSE)
For those of you just tuning in on the Fox News Channel or C-SPAN, I am Rush Limbaugh, and I want everyone in this room and every one of you around the country to succeed. I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed. And I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching big government that would stop your success, I want that organization, that element, or that person to fail.
