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Dallas Braces For Winter Storm; Suicide Bomber Detonates on U.S. Base in Afghanistan; CitiGroup Offering More Painless Way to Foreclose; Former Astronaut Explains Children's Education Foundation

Aired February 11, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Let's look -- I'm just going to take a look at what's on my rundown, because we are coming up to the top of the hour. It is a busy hour, we got a lot of things coming on.

Take a look at Dallas, of all places, now under a winter-storm warning. And this is why, a new storm is moving across the Deep South. We've got complete coverage of all of the weather situation across this country, the people in the northeast who are digging out, plus the Deep South.

Plus, give them the deed and they will give you time. This is a fascinating story. A massive mortgage company has a new plan to ease the pain of foreclosure. It does not actually keep anybody in their house any longer, but if you are being foreclosed upon, it does help.

And also the White House has been busy, believe it or not, cranking out 462 pages about the president's economic plan. Those pages are full of predictions, particularly what is going to happen with respect to jobs, what the White House has done to create jobs. I'm full of questions about it, so I'm going to grill one of the authors of this report.

One of the stories we are following right now, it's live happening right now is that it is the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. And once again at CNN, we have quite a commitment to this story. So this is our Iran Desk, these are people who are taking calls, they are getting information, vetting it, trying to confirm. We are having great difficulty doing that, obviously, because the government has shutdown many of the ways in which people communicate.

Ivan Watson, you all know Ivan, Ivan is on the Iran Desk right now. What is going on right now in terms of Iran and how are we finding out?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This morning we had a huge state-sponsored celebration and it all over the Iranian state TV channels which are very strictly controlled. What we want to show you guys is some of the videos that the government doesn't want us to see.

And we're going to start off with one piece of video, this is a crowd that seems to have gathered around at one point and they have knocked over garbage cans, and they actually seem to have gotten a hold of one of the motorbikes that the militia, that the security forces use, and they ride in to --

VELSHI: The Basij.

WATSON: The Basij -- and they set it on fire at one point. And then they chant, "Republic of Iran," not Islamic Republic, which is what is being celebrated today. That is another sign of defiance.

Another piece of video -- this is kind of hard to watch, because you have a guy getting beaten up by a helmeted security officer. And that just shows how dangerous it is to go up against these guys if you don't agree with the government.

Final bit of video I would like to show you, and this is going to be some of the tear gas that we see in one of these YouTube videos that has been uploaded by the citizen journalists. Tear gas being fired into the crowd, used to disperse these demonstrators.

VELSHI: And we think this was today?

WATSON: We believe most of this -- this has come up in the last couple of hours.

VELSHI: Right.

WATSON: And over here, Mitra Mobashard (ph), our producer, she has got some video one of the appearances of maybe Mehdi Karroubi, he's an opposition activist. We believe this is the first sighting we've had of him. It's very shaky, but you can be arrested just for having a camera out on the streets there. We know that he was hit with tear gas today and that his son was arrested, and all he was trying the do was to go to the state-sponsored celebration.

What is really important here is that people are smuggling the stuff out, and later today, later this hour, we're going to talk to --

VELSHI: But there have been some shutdowns. The Iranian government has shutdown some people's Internet access, or Internet service providers, so it's much harder to get this information out.

WATSON: Absolutely, and people are scared to talk to us on the phone, because they know the phones are being tapped.

VELSHI: All right, I want to remind everybody about this, you have talked about this many times for many months, because you have been covering this for a long time, but what we do here, the reason we have an Iran Desk, is because all of this information comes out and some of it could be propaganda, some of it could be pro-government, some of it could be anti-government. But you have something of a process here when information comes in for the first time. We don't just take in, you don't just run on to TV with it.

Tell us a bit about what happens here at this desk.

WATSON: Well, we have to vet it. I mean, we are on opposition web sites, and we see that new videos get put up and we compare them to older things we've gotten. We have translators, linguists here who are checking what is being said in those things.

We're also covering what the state is saying as well. In other hours we've brought to you Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech and analyzing that as well. And when we hear some reports, we have some people on the ground that we can contact to kind of triangulate what is going on.

It's really tough. It's Iranian Kremlinology.

We're going to talk later in this hour to a blogger here in the States whose dad is in the prison and he is a key part of trying to get this information out.

VELSHI: All right, so what -- this is important for us to know and our viewers to know, if you are getting one piece of video or one piece of information, the reality is that has gone through a lot of process here. And we are trying very much to give people as accurate a view of what is going on, but boy, the Iranian government has made it very, very difficult.

They won't let you in?

WATSON: You know it's like -- no, no, no. I am not allowed in, and trying to cover it from this far away, it's like having two hands and your one leg tied behind your back. It's really tough, but we're trying.

VELSHI: Well, you're doing it and the team is doing it. Thank you very much for that, Ivan Watson.

We continue to have weather problems across this country. People in the northeast are just getting those airports and those planes out. Take a look at Dallas, though. Dallas is full of snow, so there are going to be more travel woes, and we're going to talk about that with Allan Chernoff, who is at a major airport, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. We are tracking flights across the country. Obviously, we have had a number of airports in the northeast, they are back open now many most cases, but remarkable delays. We know in Philly, according to the FAA site, averaging about four-hour delays. We're going to get an update on that to find out what the situation is in Philly.

And you can see down here in the lower part of the country where there are -- a lot of this weather is going on, we are seeing the air traffic. We are hearing, by the way, not major delays in Houston, about 15-minute delays and possible ground delays, and Dallas where we have been looking at the snow doesn't look like it's experiencing much in the way of delays either.

The northeast digging itself out, lot of people had canceled flights over the last couple days.. Let's go to LaGuardia, Allan Chernoff is LaGuardia Airport. What's it looking like there, Allan?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, LaGuardia Airport is finally back in business big time. Most of those flights on time, operating. This after 700 cancellations yesterday, and another 400 this morning.

Now, it is understandable what happened yesterday. We were getting pounded by the snow, but this morning, the runways were all clear and certainly planes could have taken off, so what exactly happened? Well, the way that the airlines operate is that they anticipate that storm, and they were moving planes out of New York even before the storm started. Today, they have been moving the planes back in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN KROEPPEL, GENERAL MANAGER, LAGUARDIA AIRPORT: We are sending all of the aircraft back to start their schedules again, and basically reset.

CHERNOFF: And we are close to resetting?

KROEPPEL: They are close to resetting now. They are all in the process of getting the aircraft in, and you will see virtually normal operations by the end of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: And of course, that helps to explain what is going on at those other airports, Ali, that you just made reference to. Those delays partly because the planes and the crews have to get back in place.

Now, this morning at LaGuardia, there were very, very few travelers, most of them recognizing they weren't going anywhere, but we did meet the unfortunate few who came here only to be disappointed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYLER BROWN, STRANDED PASSENGER: Yesterday, I had a flight out early in the morning and it was canceled because of the weather. So I went back to Manhattan with my brother and now trying to get a first flight out, and again, just out of luck, and with the weather again just kind of getting screwed over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Well, that gentleman is trying to get to San Francisco. His airline told him no flight until Tuesday -- Ali.

VELSHI: Well -- oh, I feel bad for folks like that, because you get there thinking you're going to get on the flight, you might be able to talk someone into it. It is probably useful to try as much as possible. I know I have had two flights cancelled in the last week, Allan. You get on and you try and get through the airline, you wait forever and you're not quite sure if they're going to solve your problem. It's really frustrating, but it may not be worth trying to hang out at an airport. CHERNOFF: Very tough for the unfortunate folks who were canceled yesterday and even this morning. A lot of them are just going to have to wait. He is going to be a tourist here for another few days.

VELSHI: Allan, good to see you and you look drier and warmer than we saw you yesterday in the streets of Manhattan.

Allan Chernoff is at LaGuardia keeping us posted as to how things get back on track.

We are going to go to Alison Kosik who is New York. She's got a remarkable story coming up. This one is really interesting. CitiMortgage, part of CitiGroup, has come up with some way that -- look, people are getting foreclosed upon, that's a bad situation, we can't solve it, but it might make it just a little bit easier on you. We'll hear from her in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right we have some new news today about foreclosures. Still up again compared to last year. This thing continues to be a problem, because more and more people are losing jobs -- well, fewer people are losing jobs, but people continue to lose jobs, which means they lose their home.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange for us right now, and she has news on a program. It is bittersweet, Alison. It does not save anyone who is going to lose their home, but it maybe allows you to lose your home with more dignity and a little more planning. Tell us about this.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, this winds up being one of those sort of win-win situations in some ways.

It is CitiMortgage, it's launching a pilot program, Ali. It's launching it tomorrow in select states. About 1,000 homeowners are expected to take part. Talking about states that have the highest foreclosure rates -- Florida, Michigan and Illinois, other states as well.

The downside in this, Ali, is that people are still going to lose their homes. But the good part of this is that the process will wind up being more orderly, it's going to be cheaper. So if you are on the verge of foreclosure, I'm talking about being 90 days late on your payments, Citi will let you stay in your home for free for six months, but here is the hook, you have to turn your deed over to the bank -- Ali.

VELSHI: Which means that you -- which means you are going to be foreclosed upon, but they are going to take a lot of the complexity out of the process and not paying lawyers and you are not fighting and you know you are moving in six months, you don't wreck the house, you give your deed over and then you leave and there aren't sheriffs and lawyers involved.

KOSIK: Exactly, but this will not windup being a completed foreclosure. This is called a deed in lieu of foreclosure, which means -- exactly -- which means that it won't hit your credit score as hard as if you just ditched the home and left.

VELSHI: Right, a deed in lieu of foreclosure means you have given them the deed to the house. Here is your house back, good-bye. I don't owe you the money, I was not foreclosed upon. You got the house, I got six months to find a new place to live.

KOSIK: Exactly. And what this winds up doing for Citi, of course, you know, this is not just a goodwill measure here, it's going to save Citi money, mostly in legal fees. The borrower, as you said, has to keep the house in good condition to qualify. I mean, think about it, foreclosures typically are not in the best shape. There's damage because of negligent, people who are going to be rid of the homes are not likely to make those repairs.

So overall, it helps the bank in that way. And I know your next question, you are wondering what are the borrowers getting out of this, right?

VELSHI: Yes, what do they get out of this.

KOSIK: Six months to figure out their next move. Usually when the bank repossesses your property, you are kicked out almost immediately. So you've got some time on your side to figure out your next step.

Also, you know, you're going to save money on legal fees too, if you are a homeowner ready to foreclose on your house because you would be stuck in the court system as well. We're hearing that it takes months to years to go through the foreclosure process. There is a logjam, because as you said at the beginning of the piece, you know, foreclosures are up as of last month 15 percent, so there is a logjam in the courts. So by you making this deal with Citi, you can avoid those legal fees as well -- Ali.

VELSHI: All right. Alison, great to talk to you, great to see you again. You make me miss New York and the stock exchange.

KOSIK: Come back.

VELSHI: We'll talk to you again and thanks for telling us about this important story.

I'll give you some headlines right now, some top stories.

It is the last thing that people in Haiti need -- torrential rains are now hitting the nation, flooding streets that are littered with quake debris and garbage. The quake left about a million people homeless in Haiti.

In Iran, it's a day of celebration, but it is turning into a day of protest. It is the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, security forces have been clashing with Opposition protestors.

Meanwhile, pro-government ralliers are also out in force, hearing President Ahmadinejad announce an expansion of the Iranian nuclear program. Just a short time ago, the White House suggested Iran is exaggerating its nuclear capabilities.

In London, tragic news from the world of fashion. Designer Alexander McQueen has been found dead at his home, according to his company's spokesman. No word of the cause. McQueen was 40 years old, known as a bad boy earning himself the nickname of "Hooligan of English Fashion."

All right, a lot of weather going on in the country right now. We've got digging out of one storm in the northeast and another one in the Deep South. Chad is on the case in terms of weather and traffic. We will be right there in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: Hey, did you know about the first African-American astronaut? We are about to talk to him. We are talking about how he did it, how he got there and whether there is enough juice behind others, other African-American kids who want to be astronauts, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Just getting a piece of news I want to tell you about. We understand that there has been a suicide bomb attack at a U.S. base in Afghanistan. We are waiting to get further details.

Here is what we believe we know -- five U.S. soldiers, we are understanding five U.S. soldiers may have been killed in this attack which took place at about 9:00 p.m. local time after an explosion which we believe to have been caused by a suicide bomber.

Let's -- let's -- I think on the phone I have got Fred Pleitgen who has more on this. Fred, are you with us? You are in Kabul?

FREDRIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Ali. Absolutely, I'm in Kabul. And the preliminary information that we are getting is that this indeed this suicide bomber was wearing a uniform of the Afghan Border Police, that's a special unit of the police which is very common there in that eastern part of Afghanistan. Of course that Paktika Province is a place that borders Afghanistan.

Now the Afghan side, the Afghan governor of Paktika Province tells us that five U.S. soldiers were wounded in that attack. The ISF, International Security Forces, is not willing to confirm that at this time yet, however they do say that several U.S. soldiers have been wounded in that attack.

But we are trying to still find out, we're still not clear is whether or not the attacker was able to get into the base or whether he was stopped before he could get into the base. That is one thing that we are still working on. The Afghanistan side is telling us that they will give us that information shortly, but they say that they are still awaiting a preliminary investigation that's going on.

Of course, base security, Ali, is something that's been a major issue in the past couple of weeks here in Afghanistan, especially since that incident where a suicide bomber walked onto a base, also in eastern Afghanistan, and killed those seven employees of the CIA, Ali.

VELSHI: I want to be clear, Fred, so are not having or we don't have confirmation or even reports that these five U.S. soldiers have been killed, we understand they have been wounded?

PLEITGEN: Yes, exactly. That is what they are saying. They are saying that they have been wounded, we are not sure how seriously these soldiers have been wounded.

Now the ISF, International Security Force, for their part, is not putting out a number of wounded, only saying that it is several soldiers who have been wounded. We expect to get more information about that in the coming minutes, in the coming hours, waiting to see if whether or not any of the soldiers have in fact been killed.

But right now, both to Afghan government and the ISF, International Security Force are telling us that they are wounded, these are not killed soldiers. However, they are saying it was a suicide attacker, that of course is always a very dangerous incident, and they were saying that he is wearing a uniform of the border police in Afghanistan, which is something that is of course a cause of great concern for U.S. soldiers here in Afghanistan to see that the suicide bombers are wearing official uniforms, because it makes it that much harder for them to distinguish these people.

VELSHI: Right, and particularly since they just embarking now on continued and more intense efforts with Afghan forces.

Fred Pleitgen is in Kabul. We, of course, have staff in Afghanistan who will be working on the story and we will get details of the condition of the five U.S. soldiers and the situation that has occurred, that has resulted in injuries. Apparently an attempted suicide bomber, maybe a suicide bomber has gone into a U.S. base in Afghanistan. We'll stay on that story.

I want to take you back to a discussion, Endeavor astronauts have docked with the international space station and they're gearing up for the first of three spacewalks. It is a 13-day mission. Now today, two spacewalkers will hook up with a new module -- they'll hook up a new module to the international space station.

A man who is no stranger to walking in space is Dr. Bernard Harris. Fifteen years ago, he became the first African-American to walk in space. He joins me live from Houston. Dr. Harris, I said you were the first black astronaut. You are, you're the first black astronaut to walk in space. That is quite, any way you cut it, that is quite a distinction.

I want to tell you that as we reflect on achievements and struggles for African-Americans in black history month, you fulfilled a remarkable dream and the dream of so many young children of any color. Did you blaze a trail so that others can do that after you? Is it a possibility for a young black student to become a spacewalker and an astronaut?

DR. BERNARD HARRIS, FMR. NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, you know, certainly, when I dreamed 40 years ago that I would follow in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin by becoming an astronaut, I did not set out to become the first African-American to walk in space. That just happened. But what a wonderful event.

VELSHI: You have gone through some efforts though to try and make sure others can follow in your path and I want to share with the viewers some statistics that are a little bit troubling. There's achievement in the knowledge gap with kids studying science. In the ninth grade there shows a 23 point gap between white students and black students and by the age -- sorry, that is at the age of nine. By the age of 14, that gap has increased to 26 points. Tell me a little bit about this problem and how we solve it.

HARRIS: Well, it is a real issue, and that is why I have formed the Harris Foundation to address issues around education. We have programs all around the nation that we that we are trying to support math and science education to take care of those issues. If we don't solve the problem with our kids not graduating from high school and not going on to college in math and science fields, this country is going to fall behind in terms of leadership, in terms of creating innovation and particularly in the new world order as I call it where we will no longer have a majority in the city, but everybody be considered minorities. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that all our communities -- black, white or brown, have the same opportunities to fulfill their dreams just as I did.

VELSHI: So what is it that you are doing? What is it your foundation does? How is it that you help to close that gap? Because if you close the gap with kids and they get better at science, it's not just that they'll be an astronauts, but they might be physicists and they might be doctors and they might be other things. How is it that you address it and solve it?

HARRIS: Well we do it through forming partnerships with other organizations like ExxonMobil. In fact, the ExxonMobil Foundation supports our largest program which is called the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris science camp where we have 30 camps around the nation that hosts middle school kids in a residential program teaching them about not only education, but education in math and science, trying to get them to go into careers, in these careers. After all, 90 percent of the jobs in the future, and that future of course is now, require expertise in math and science.

VELSHI: What have you been able to do this long enough that you have been able to get some sense of the success of the program? Does it end up getting more kids to follow a track in math and science or does it improve that, bridge that gap that we just talked about?

HARRIS: Well, it not only bridges the gap, but it also helps in correcting the mindset. We picked middle school because it's a critical time for young people in their development. It's a critical time where they are amassing the education necessary to deal with the high school classes that they're going to take to prepare them for college. So, by having these programs in this particular part of their life, it helps them.

Also, by exposing them to positive people doing positive things, we call those folks rock stars of STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics, they can actually see people doing things like being engineers and being doctors. So that not only look at me being a astronaut and a medical doctor, they can look at other fields that are so impactful in this nation.

VELSHI: Dr. Harris, I want to ask you this, because you are a spacewalker. You're not a black spacewalker. The fact is this is a big deal in our country is at a point where we are concerned about what the future is going to be in terms of what kind of industries will actually employ Americans. There are a lot of people who think that we need to lean heavily on innovation in engineering, in mathematics, in science, in technology, the STEM that you just talked about. Are we going in the right direction and should we be doing more not just for African-American students, but for the whole country in terms of leaning on those strengths more than we do today?

HARRIS: And I agree with you. As I mentioned before, the only way we're going to solve this is that we've got to have this partnership between not only what I do in terms of, you know, nonprofit organizations, but everyone needs to participate in this problem. Everyone needs to participate in creating a solution. It is a pipeline issue. It is a workforce issue.

And I'm glad to see that the current administration is investing dollars in this. As you know, NASA made a recent announcement of putting in programs around STEM education and I think that there are a number of folks like ExxonMobil and other corporations that are doing things to address this issue. If we don't do this, we are talking about a problem for us in the long term.

VELSHI: All right. Dr. Bernard Harris, again, continued congratulations on your great achievements and we look forward to talking to you again. Dr. Bernard Harris, the first black astronaut to walk in space.

When we come back, we are going to check in with our Iran desk. Ivan Watson and his crew are watching very closely what is going on in Iran.

Also, the story of an Iranian blogger in the United States who's trying to show the world against tough odds what's going on in Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We are following a breaking news story out of Afghanistan. Apparently a suicide bomber got through onto a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan. We have reports of five U.S. soldiers injured or at least that is what we have been told by officials, both Afghan officials and international force officials. It happened at 9:00 p.m. local time. Apparently the attacker was wearing the uniform of the Afghan border police, a very common uniform worn in the eastern part of the country by Afghan police officials, got himself on a base according to Fred Pleitgen. We don't know how he got onto to base, what credentials he used. Fred Pleitgen is in Kabul. He's on top of the story.

Chris Lawrence is working it from the Pentagon angle. We don't know the conditions of the U.S. soldiers, but we do have news that at least five soldiers have been injured on a base in eastern Afghanistan. We will bring you more on that as we get it.

We're also following very closely the situation in Iran on the 31st anniversary of the revolution in Iran, 1979. You remember that very, very closely last year in June, they had elections in Iran and we covered that very closely here with Ivan Watson and the Iran desk monitoring social media and the Internet. You've got a story about somebody who is trying to use that to get the word out about what is going on there in Iran.

WATSON: Absolutely. I want to introduce you to this guy, a young Iranian guy living in the U.S. trying to get his father out of prison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): Last week 28-year-old Medhi Saharkhz sent an online message to his father. My friend, my comrade, today is your birthday, he wrote, but father, these are days of pain and blood. It has been more than 200 days since you've seen freedom. Security forces arrested Mehdi's father, Issa, in Iran last July. He has been in prison there ever since.

MEDHI SAHARKHZ. IRANIAN EXILE BLOGGER: During his arrest, they broke his ribs and then they put him in solitary confinement for 70 days without any medical treatment.

WATSON: Issa Saharkhz is a prominent Iranian journalist and during Iranian's presidential elections last June, he worked a spokesman for a reformist candidate. Mehdi says that his father is just one of the thousands of victims of the government crackdown that followed that disputed election.

SAHARKHZ: So basically just freedom of speech I think is his crime.

WATSON: So Mehdi stepped in to fill the gap, armed with little more than a laptop and a T-shirt with his father's face on it.

SAHARKHZ: For us who live outside, it is important to get the word out and support them in getting that word out.

WATSON: From New Jersey, where Medhi lives and works full time as a graphic artist, the young Iranian launched a blog and a YouTube channel that's home to thousands of videos secretly uploaded from the streets of Iran. You are taking incredible risks here to upload the videos.

SAHARKHZ: Yes, they are giving up their lives trying to record our Iranian history.

WATSON: Some videos are sent by trusted contacts. Others are posted anonymously.

SAHARKHZ: You can see the riot police beating a little innocent girl who is not in a protest. She is begging -- I mean, you see her.

WATSON: How do you feel when you see this?

SAHARKHZ: Don't they have family? How could they beat their own people?

WATSON: Medhi's one-man information campaign often carried out from neighborhood coffee shops shows everything from defiant music videos.

SAHARKHZ: It is called "spring for freedom."

WATSON: To latest photos of new government crowd control methods. I mean, the irony is that you are getting these things out, but now other people in the country can't see them easily.

SAHARKHZ: Yes. Because from cities to city, people won't be able to get information, because there is no newspapers. All of the newspapers are shut down. Basically everything is shut down. So, getting those images back in is very important.

WATSON: Iran's opposition often seems like a movement that lives on little more than hope. The same goes for this young Iranian exile. Do you think that you will ever see your father again?

SAHARKHZ: Of course. I know that one day, we will celebrate in free Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Very hopeful message there. I asked him, are you worried that you will put your father in danger? And he said, my father would be supporting me doing this.

VELSHI: So the point is if he didn't do this and there wasn't this communication, there would be less chance of someone getting caught for it, because the Iranian government is monitoring or at least would like to be monitoring in outgoing traffic on e-mail and by phone.

WATSON: Everybody who sends a picture out to a guy like Medhi is risking their life right now.

VELSHI: You guys are staying on this with the Iranian desk. We're trying to get information out of Iran to see what's going on. Thanks Ivan, Ivan Watson in the Iran desk this week on the 31st anniversary of the revolution. When I come back I'm going to talk to Christina Romer. This is somebody you want to talk to. She chairs the president's Council of Economic Advisers. She advises the president of the United States on the economy. They have just released a massive report which talks about what this administration has done and what it is going to do in particular how many jobs it's going to create. When I come back, I am talking to Christina Romer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Just told you about this new report, the annual economic report of the president by the Council of Economic Advisers. Let me just give you a quick headline here. It says that they are expecting, they're predicting 95,000 new jobs per month relatively little decline in the unemployment rate and a 2.5 percent growth in GDP which is the broadest measure of economic, of economic activity in the country.

Let's go right to Washington. Christina Romer who chairs the president's Council of Economic Advisers joins me now. Thank you so much for joining us, Christina.

You've got the president's ear and we have a report here that says that the most important thing to Americans right now we know is getting back to work. You have a report that says 95,000 jobs a month could be created. Starting when, how sure are we of this?

CHRISTINA ROMER, CHAIR, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: All right. Well, certainly the administration is right there with the American people. The number one thing on our agenda is getting people back to work. So, what our report has, it has the administration's forecast. You heard most of that back when we presented our budget a couple of weeks ago. The piece that new is the employment forecast which isn't released with the budget, but is all part of the same process and it does say on average in 2010, we think we're going to be adding 95,000 jobs per month. But we've said for a long time is by spring we'd start to see positive numbers, obviously smaller at first and then bigger towards the end of the year. I think that is still a very reasonable projection. None of us has a crystal ball, but I think that is what a lot of the private sector is saying as well.

VELSHI: Right and a lot of economists like yourself -- and tell me if you disagree with this, because it's sort of lore out there -- that you need to create 100,000, maybe even 150,000 jobs a month just to deal with balancing out those people who leave the workforce, who retire or die versus those who come in, I guess they immigrate or they graduate from school and they join the workforce. So just to keep the unemployment rate sort of level, you do have to be adding more jobs than even this prediction. Do you believe that?

ROMER: Certainly, our estimates is probably around 100,000 is what you need to hold the unemployment rate about at the same level. There is certainly some variation around that.

VELSHI: Sure.

ROMER: But it is saying that, you know, this is all consistent. I think almost everyone is projecting is, you know, we have changed dramatically. If you compare this year to last year the trajectory is certainly a whole lot better. But it is still, you know, we are talking about fairly modest GDP growth, fairly modest employment growth and that is exactly why the president says, come on, Congress, we need to do more. That is why he has been talking for example about his jobs and wages tax credit, something that the council thinks could be very effective.

VELSHI: Let me ask you about this. Senators Bachus and Grassley unveiled a draft of an $85 billion bipartisan -- I know the president has been pushing that -- jobs bill. What can be in a bill that creates jobs? Because I would think if we could do that, we should have been doing that a year ago. What is it that could possibly happen that will help us create jobs? Doesn't that have to happen in the private sector?

ROMER: Well, certainly, we know that the private sector is the main engine of job creation, but we're always talking about is what can we do to help and certainly in the heart of the recession last January, when we passed the recovery act, that was essential for sort of buoying up demands so that someone was actually able to buy some products and that has been incredibly important. But what we are trying to think about is at this stage of the recovery, what are the things that could be important?

That is why something like a jobs tax credit we think could be uniquely effective now. We know GDP is growing. We know firms are starting to have demand again. What's going to get them over the hump to get them to start hiring? Maybe a tax incentive is certainly what I think a lot of us think could be quite effective. That is something that I think will work better now than it might have worked a year from now. That is why you want to be targeting your policies to the time.

VELSHI: I think that's an important point. Hopefully we'll be able to discuss that a little more later, targeting your policies to the time. Not everything works the same way at different times.

Christina Romer is the chair of the president's Council of Economic Advisers joining me from the White House, thanks very much for your time.

ROMER: Sure, nice to be with you.

VELSHI: We're going to take a break. When we come back, Kate Bolduan is in Bethesda, Maryland with an update on the post blizzard situation in the Washington, DC area. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Must be nice to be in the DC area not preparing for more snow to come. Now you just get to dig out. Let's go to Kate Bolduan. She's in Bethesda, Maryland. What is the update?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hey, there, Ali. Well, it is a very different day here in Bethesda and in many parts of the DC region. If you just take a look behind me, it is a perfect example. This sidewalk is a very sidewalk. It's a very small sidewalk now, but this was all snow-covered this morning, so the thaw is occurring which I'm sure is very good news for everyone here. If you take a look right here, this is a major road here in Bethesda, Maryland and it is very clear. And people are starting to getting out of their homes and start running all of those errands and we caught up with a few people today as they're trying the get back to normal. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am really surprised. I had no idea. I kind of thought we would be the only people walking around. But everybody is out. All the shops are open. I wasn't expecting it and the streets are clear. I am kind of confused, because my street is not clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am actually at the office today which is good. I was not there yesterday. The roads are fine. Some neighborhoods are still a little slushy, took a while to get out today, but I think by tomorrow, it will be in good shape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Taking a look at the bigger picture all throughout the state of Maryland, they have a very long and costly cleanup ahead of them, Ali. I think we have some video from one of our affiliates of. It's in the Frederick, Maryland area. That's northwest of where we are here. They still have very deep snowdrifts. I have heard reports of drifts as deep as 12 feet and people stranded in their cars overnight on some major highways, still impassable, even a tractor- trailer there, you can see it is not all good news here.

People are still working on digging themselves out, especially in some residential areas where the plows are saying, that is not priority at this time. Power outages, Ali, still thousands of people without power in Maryland. That clearly is a very immediate focus for everyone here in Maryland and in other parts of the DC metro area.

VELSHI: Power outages, people who still can't get to where they need to get. The national guard is still active in the area that you are in, but at least it is not snowing some more, so there is a chance that we can dig out of it. Kate, thanks so much for being with us. It's good to see you.

BOLDUAN: Right. Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: One of the stories we have been telling you about today, it is 20 years since Nelson Mandela took that walk to freedom out of jail where he had been for 27 years into freedom and ready to lead his country into freedom. I will tell you my thoughts on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Just a few minutes to "RICK'S LIST," Rick Sanchez standing by. He's on deck. What do you got?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I got a lot of stuff, man. You know those protests that we've been talking about in Iran?

VELSHI: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Can I just be really honest with you, what our sources are telling us? Protesters are getting their butts kicked. I mean that is really what is going on right now in Iran. The situation in Haiti is kind of interesting. Sometime during our hour and sometime between 3:00 and 5:00, Ali, it looks like there might be some movement on the situation in Haiti. These folks are inside of a jail in a country that is --

VELSHI: These American missionaries you're talking about?

SANCHEZ: Yes, the ones from Idaho, the Baptist missionaries from Idaho. They could be released today. And think of their plight by the way, but here is the big story. Here is what we're going to put right at the very top of the show. We just learned five U.S. soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan. Now think about this, Ali, remember the story we did yesterday that (INAUDIBLE) brought to us. She was imbedded with these guys in Afghanistan and she was showing how our guys were training their guys and the Afghans --

VELSHI: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Look, as good as that is and everybody was celebrating, when you train the militias over there, you also create a problem in that you could create a vulnerability for our guys.

VELSHI: Right.

SANCHEZ: You know where I am going with this?

VELSHI: And that may be happening. So you're going to bring us the latest on that because that is just developing right now. Fred Pleitgen is there in Kabul, Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon. "RICK'S LIST" coming up in just a couple of minutes.

Now for "The X-Y-Z of It." Today marks the 20th anniversary of the day that Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years in the custody of the apartheid government in South Africa. Now, I've got a strong personal connection to South Africa. My parents and sister were born there. I lived there for a year. My family was involved in the struggle to defeat apartheid and because of that, the news played a big role in my upbringing, a big enough part to make me want to deliver the news.

In fact, I remember this very day, 20 years ago, a college student -- that's what I was in Canada watching Nelson Mandela, watching this that you're looking at on your screen, walk out of (INAUDIBLE) prison after 27 years behind bars. He was older. He was far older, thinner than the man whose face had become familiar to the world. He could have been angry. He could have lashed out. He could have led a frustrated nation into revenge. He didn't. He realized that South Africans of all colors and backgrounds rightly claimed that country as their own and they had to share a future. That message is just as relevant today and not just for South Africans.

I'm Ali Velshi. You can catch me here every day, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific.

Here is "RICK'S LIST."