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Q&A With President Obama; Tiger Woods Apologizes; Space Shuttle Endeavour Headed Home

Aired February 19, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Point number two, the best way for us to unleash the free market -- the best way to unleash the free market and capitalism and innovation and dynamism in the energy sector is for us to fully take into account all the costs that go into producing energy and using energy.

And what do I mean by that?

Look, if you tell a company that there are no mileage standards on cars, then people end up making Hummers. Right? And everybody drives Hummers until finally gas gets so crazy and at a certain point people start saying, maybe I should get a more fuel-efficient car.

But if you have got a fuel efficiency standard in place that says your car needs to get 20 miles a gallon or 30 miles a gallon, suddenly all these engineers are thinking, well, how do we do that? And all these companies start coming up with new technologies that make your car more fuel-efficient. Ultimately, you end up seeing jobs and businesses thriving in response to the regulation that has been put there.

Now, that is one way to regulate, is just to tell people you've got to produce more energy efficient cars.

Another way of doing it is just to send a message. You say it's going to be more expensive for you if you've got a less fuel-efficient car. Well, that's the only idea that we're trying to talk about when it comes to these greenhouse gases that are causing global warming.

If we say that, you know what? The pollution that's being sent into the atmosphere has a cost to all of us, in terms of, in some cases, the air we breathe that is causing asthma, in some cases because it's causing climate change, we just want you to take into account those costs and price energy accordingly.

And that means that things like wind energy suddenly become more appealing because they don't produce those pollutants. And other sources of energy become less appealing because they do produce those pollutants.

The idea has been that if we put a price on these carbons, then maybe that would be a way that companies would all respond and start inventing new things that would make our planet cleaner. That's the whole idea.

Now, the last point I'm going to make on this.

What is true is that a lot of us depend on dirty sources of energy, and a lot of us depend on really inefficient cars and buildings, and et cetera. And so there has got to be a transition.

We're not going to suddenly get all our energy from wind or all our energy from sun, because we just don't have the technology to do it. But what we should be doing is planning over the next 20 or 30 years to move in that direction.

That's what countries like China are doing. That's what countries like France are doing. That's what countries all across Europe are doing and all across Asia are doing.

We don't want to be left behind. We are the only ones who have kind of missed the boat, so we are still using 20th century technologies and everybody else is producing 21st century technologies.

Look what happened with the car. We started getting our clock cleaned when consumers decided they wanted a cleaner car. And suddenly, everybody was buying their cars from Japan or now South Korea. And we wanted the make sure that that doesn't happen when it comes to wind turbines, it doesn't happen when it comes to solar energy, et cetera.

So, the ideas that are being talked about is, how do we provide more incentive for clean energy companies like yours to operate profitably? And over time, how do we start shifting away from less efficient ways of using energy?

That's a pretty straightforward thing to do. There's nothing radical about it.

It is true though that it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take some time, and we're still going to be getting our electricity from coal, we're still going to be getting electricity from nuclear energy, we're still getting electricity and power from natural gas and other traditional sources. We just want to make sure that we're also moving into the future even as we do so, and think that we can.

All right?

(APPLAUSE)

I think I've got time for one more question.

All right. This is the last question. Last question.

It's a lady's turn.

All right. Everybody is pointing at her. Right up there, yes. Right there.

I couldn't call on anybody. You know I love everybody here, but --

TERRY WRIGHT (ph), TEACHER: Good morning, Mr. President. My name is Terry Wright (ph), and I teach math right here at Green Valley High School.

OBAMA: Excellent.

(APPLAUSE)

WRIGHT: And my mom is right behind you in the top row.

OBAMA: Where is mom?

WRIGHT: Right there.

OBAMA: Mom, raise your hand. Oh. Hey, mom.

You're a very young looking mom.

WRIGHT: Thank you.

My question is this. And I'm speaking on behalf of all of us math teachers up here. When you were a freshman in high school, specifically, did you have math homework every night? And if you did, did you do it?

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Oh, wow.

The answer is yes and sometimes.

(LAUGHTER)

First of all, let me thank you for being a math teacher, because we need more math teachers and we need more science teachers. We need more teachers generally who are enthusiastic about their work and their jobs.

So thanks to all the teachers here. We love teachers.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: All right.

Now, we are actually -- unfortunately, our students are falling behind in math and science internationally. We used to rank at the top, and now we are sort of in the middle of the pack when it comes to math and science performance.

This is why one of the things that I have been emphasizing this year -- and this has actually hasn't been subject to a lot of controversy. This is an area where we have been able to get good cooperation between Democrats and Republicans, is promoting math, science, education -- math and science education, promoting technology education. The more that we are moving our young people into these areas, the better off this economy is going to be, because that means that we're producing engineers, we're producing scientists, we're producing computer programmers. So, we want to make sure that we are recruiting more math teachers, we're recruiting more science teachers. We want all outstanding teachers to be getting higher pay.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We want to make sure that there's constant professional development when it comes to the teaching profession so that, you know, if you had the best way of teaching math five years ago, it may not be the best way of teaching math five years from now. And so you should be able to go back and constantly sharpen your skills.

To the students, I want to say this -- we're doing a lot of work on education reform. We are doing a lot to bring in new teachers to improve classrooms, to make sure that they are all connected to the Internet, to make sure that college is more affordable. But let me just say that it won't make any difference if our students aren't working a little bit harder.

Now, I'm not saying all of you are not working hard. I'm sure many of you feel like you are working very, very hard, because Malia and Sasha always tell me how hard they are working. But I really do think that, you know, we're going to have to emphasize in the next decade that we're competing around the world, and America will continue to be number one as long as we are just as hungry as other countries.

So, if our kids are spending all of their time playing video games, and somebody else's kids are getting the math and science skills to invent video games, we're not going to be number one. It's as simple as that.

So, you know, the need to turn off the TV, put the video games away, buckle down on your work, making sure that parents are checking their kids' homework and talking to their teachers, being accountable, being responsible, that is what's going the make sure that we continue to thrive, we continue to excel into the future.

Thank you, Henderson. I had a great time. Bye-bye.

(APPLAUSE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: The president of the United States in Henderson, Nevada, talking about all sorts of things. He's been talking about the deficit, about health care, partisanship and bipartisanship. He also told the audience that they should floss their teeth and that kids should do homework. He's just wrapping up a town hall and a Q&A in Henderson, Nevada.

In a little while, we'll talk to Ed Henry, who's there with the president, breaking down what exactly the president was saying and what it means.

But first, let's have a look at our top stories.

In Austin, Texas, we have a statement today from the wife of Joe Stack, the man who apparently slammed his small plane into an IRS building yesterday. We'll bring you that statement, along with a live update, in just a few moments.

In Iraq, a new name for a new war. A senior administration source tells us the mission in Iraq is being renamed Operation New Dawn. It reflects the drawdown of U.S. troops.

In Florida, Tiger comes out of the woods, somewhat. In a statement you might have seen on CNN, Tiger Woods apologized for his affairs, but he's not sure when he'll return to golf, and said the future of his marriage is a private matter.

We'll play you a chunk in just a few minutes, right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I know because I was watching. It was everywhere. So if you were anywhere near a TV this morning, you probably saw Tiger Woods talking. If you weren't let me tell you what he said.

He apologized for all the scandal he's involved in. He denies rumors -- very clearly, he said his wife did not hit him or did not come at him with a club. He says there's never been any domestic violence between he and his wife.

He acknowledged that he is receiving in-patient therapy for -- well, he didn't say for what. He said he's receiving in-patient therapy.

He didn't set a timetable for returning to golf.

He spoke for about 15 minutes, a lot of detail. Here's a big chunk of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PRO GOLFER: Many of you have cheered for me or you worked with me or you supported me. Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me.

I want to say to each of you simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.

Some people have speculated that Elin somehow hurt or attacked me on Thanksgiving night. It angers me that people would fabricate a story like that.

Elin never hit me that night or any other night. There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage, ever.

Parents used to point to me as a role model for their kids. I owe all those families a special apology. I want to say to them that I am truly sorry.

I do plan to return to golf one day. I just don't know when that day will be. I don't rule out that it will be this year.

I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: All right. If you want more of that, you can get it on CNN.com. The entire statement is available there.

Now, we've got this covered from all angles. Susan Candiotti is live in Ponte Vedra, Florida. She's got the latest from there. Richard Roth was at ESPN Zone in New York City, where fans were gathered, and their reaction to what Tiger Woods had to say.

Susan, let's start with you. What do you take away from what we heard this morning?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think, Ali, that what I take away from it is that for the first time, we saw a bit of that privacy wall that he has had set up around him for such a long time scraped away just a little bit. I mean, reporters watched this on closed-circuit television from about a mile away.

He was in a clubhouse, and we were not in that room at the time. But we watched as he appeared to be intense and used the words "I'm sorry," "I'm so, so sorry." He said that at least three times, talked about his behavior about eight times, as we counted it.

For the first time he publicly talked about having affairs. He said he won't say how many.

He also said, if you want me to talk about my marriage, I'm not going to go there, the future of his marriage. And he said he's not going to talk about what happened the night of that accident back on Thanksgiving night.

However, he denies that his wife attacked him that night. You have heard people talk about that quite a bit.

And finally, I thought that this was most interesting. He said that in trying to explain his behavior, he said that he almost felt a sense of entitlement. That because of his wealth and his fame, that made him feel as though he could get away with this.

I will say this -- it was interesting that afterwards to talk to the PGA commissioner about his take on this. He was in the room.

And this is how he responded to that when I asked this question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIM FINCHEM, PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER: What I've heard from most people is mainly, I mean, there is some anger in some corners, but mainly, it is a sense of sadness. That, you know, he's an American hero and he's had these issues.

But at the end of the day, he is a human being. We all make mistakes. We all have made mistakes. And when we're lucky, we learn from those mistakes and we get to be better people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: And, of course, the other thing that we learned from this is that he acknowledged that he has been in rehab for a good 45 days, and he's going back into rehab starting tomorrow.

In terms of golf, he will go back to the tour, he's not ruling out that it might be some time this year, but he's not putting a timetable to that. And, of course, the commissioner acknowledged that without Tiger, ratings take a hit and revenue takes a hit -- Ali.

VELSHI: Let's take it to Richard for a second. Richard Roth as at ESPN Zone in Times Square in New York.

Richard, as the PGA commissioner was saying, it wasn't sort of a big, triumphant comeback. It was -- it had sort of a sad, somber, very plain note to it.

What was reaction at the ESPN Zone?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think people knew at least for two days that some sort of apology was coming. People like Kevin here, who I have been dining with for several hours.

Kevin, what do you think of -- is it all over?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He made some mistakes. He held himself accountable.

I don't know. I think it's over. That's what he did.

He made some mistakes, he owned up to it. I respect him for it. I respect him more today than I did yesterday.

ROTH: All right, Kevin. Thank you. You'll take care of the check, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

ROTH: There are other people we talked to. I mean, a lot of the women here in this ESPN Zone very supportive of Tiger Woods. They feel the apology was handled correctly. They're very accepting, even if they were disappointed earlier.

Some of the men, well, they think he tried to control the situation too much, or they felt he was not contrite enough.

Here are some of the other people who spoke to us just minutes after Tiger Woods' 13-minute talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not here to judge him. I mean, he did what he did and he owned up to it.

So, I don't -- nobody supports what he did. You know, it's what he does from today on. That's all he can do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a mom, and I was watching his mother not looking at him, and that was very -- that was hard to take. I forgive him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he was very sincere. I do. I think he had to be, and I'm glad he finally spoke to the public.

It will never be the same for him, ever. And that's unfortunate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Now, one unidentified member of the staff here said she almost cried while watching Tiger Woods. Other people were watching in complete silence, Ali.

And this place, I don't know if you have been in it --

VELSHI: Yes, very many times.

ROTH: -- but like most sports facilities, very loud. And it was just a shutdown of all activity. Yes, it was before lunchtime, but it was so odd to hear everyone just watching a golfer, and I guess golf, you have to be quiet when Tiger is putting, or else he and his caddie have gotten quite upset.

But complete silence. People talking, naturally, right after it about this. Probably not going to end until Tiger gets on the tee.

VELSHI: All right. Richard Roth, thanks very much for that. I'm sorry for the tough assignment you've got there, sitting in a sports bar having to deal with this.

We'll talk to you again.

Richard Roth at the ESPN Zone in New York.

And if you want to see all of Tiger's remarks, as Richard said, about 13 minutes, we've got it posted at CNN.com.

Now, the Web has been flooded with comments, people railing against Tiger Woods, people supporting him. We are very grateful that so many of you come to our Facebook page, my Facebook page, Facebook.com/alivelshicnn.

I wanted to go in and get just a sampling of some of the many comments that we've had from so many of you. From Jessica, "This was the strangest press conference I think I have ever seen. Tiger's wounds are deep. I don't think things will ever be the same for him. Funny how 2010 is the year of the tiger."

And from Karim, "I thought his apology was sincere enough, but it's an issue between him, his wife and children to deal with. It's all good, and he's good for golf, but I won't be running out to buy any products that he endorses," although Karim notes, "I wasn't doing that anyway."

And from Jean, "Don't care. The sport would be better without the prima donna.":

And to the fact that all major U.S. TV networks dropped regular programming to carry Tiger's statement live, Jane wrote, "That shows just how low journalism has sunk."

From Mercedes, "Don't marry a famous person if you don't want to be in the spotlight."

Well, whether "sorry" is enough from Tiger Woods depends on who you ask. But from politics to the pulpit, Tiger is certainly not the first public figure with a wandering eye. So we have compiled sort of a greatest hits of mea culpas.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was inappropriate. In fact, it was wrong.

KOBE BRYANT, NBA PLAYER: I sit here in front of you guys furious at myself, disgusted at myself for making a mistake of adultery. And I love my wife with all my heart.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": My wife Regina, she has been horribly hurt by my behavior. And when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it.

Let me tell you, folks, I have got my work cut out for me.

GOV. ELIOT SPITZER (D), NEW YORK: I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and that violates my or any sense of right and wrong.

I apologize, first and most importantly, to my family. I apologize to the public, to whom I have promised better.

JIMMY SWAGGART, TELEVANGELIST: I have sinned against you, my Lord. And I would ask that your precious -- would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgetfulness.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: OK. We are going to take about as hard a left turn as you can take in the news business.

When we come back after the break, we're going to go somewhere entirely different. I want to talk to retired Major General Charles Bolden. He is the administrate or NASA, and he is standing by. We're going to have a great conversation with him when we come back.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

VELSHI: Well, right now the Space Shuttle Endeavour is flying high above the Earth. The astronauts just finished up work on the International Space Station. They installed a panoramic window on the International Space Station and they are ready to come back home Sunday.

Well, today, right now, we have their boss, the head of NASA, Charles Bolden. He joins us live. Charles Bolden is a retired major General.

And it is a pleasure to have you here, sir. Thank you for being with us.

CHARLES BOLDEN, NASA ADMINISTRATION: Ali, it's quite a pleasure to be with you. And I am admiring all that you have been doing.

VELSHI: Thank you, sir.

And we're admiring what's going on at the International Space Station.

For people who are not intricately involved in the daily happenings at NASA, tell me the significance of this mission coming to an end.

BOLDEN: Well, if I can kind of briefly summarize it, we added a new control room, if you will, where the astronauts will be able to do some exercising, some living, but controlling a major portion of the station. And what was most important from a quality of life standpoint was they installed something called a cupola (ph) that is like a huge bay window, if you will, that really improves their view of Earth and the universe from their vantage point.

And that mission is now coming to an end. We'll bring Endeavour back to Florida on Sunday evening, we hope.

VELSHI: Sir, you have been a Marine, you've been an astronaut. You're the first African-American head of NASA.

Tell me a little of that journey. Who do you credit for all of your success in life? And I know, obviously, a great deal of it is your own. Who else? BOLDEN: I take no credit for it, as a matter of fact. I owe everything to my mom and dad.

They are my number one and number two role models, and not necessarily in that order. My father was an incredible human being, and I count myself as incredibly blessed that he was also my high school football coach. I was a lousy football player, but he was a great coach.

And then there are people that I met along the way who became role models for me in the Marine Corps and other places. But my mom and dad was where it all started.

VELSHI: You know, one of the things that we're looking at during this month is Black History Month, and we're looking at particular challenges faced not just the African-American community, but across the country in terms of public education and kids getting involved in math and science.

As you just heard the president in Henderson, Nevada, talking about an emphasis on kids doing better at math and doing their homework, you're engaged in trying to get kids to study math and science a little bit more.

Tell me about your efforts.

BOLDEN: We are indeed. In fact, NASA is doing a little bit more than we normally would in the field of education.

We have tried to get on board with the president's Educate to Innovate program. We actually have a program called Summer of Innovation that's going to be a beta test for us this summer, where we're going to select five states and try to identify middle school students, but most importantly, their teachers, and utilize the assets that we have at NASA, whether it's our engineers or physical assets like mockups and airplanes and the like, to help the teachers understand that they can identify with the STEM areas, the science, technology, engineering and math, and give them the courage and the confidence to go into the classroom and try to get their kids interested in science and math. And then to actually go in and work with these intermediate school kids to make them -- to raise their level of achievement.

VELSHI: Generally speaking, are you concerned about our level of achievement in those STEM areas in science and math, given that we're going to depend on this for our innovation in years to come?

BOLDEN: All I can do is only echo extremely the president's comments.

You know, we used to lead the world, and we don't anymore. From a very selfish standpoint, as a Marine and the head of NASA, we need technically competent kids today. And we're not getting them the way that we should out of our schools.

And I would love to go all of the way down to the elementary and kindergarten level to start there, but we're making a compromise, and so we're going to focus on middle school. But I am very concerned about the quality of the math and science education that our students are getting.

And while -- I come from parents who were educators, and I saw how hard they worked, but my parents were very confident when they went in the classroom. And it was their classroom, and they had support from the parents and guardians, and I'm not sure that the teachers of today have all of that. So, we have got to help them, and that is what NASA is really focusing on.

VELSHI: And you're doing something about that, but in that particular instance we have had this conversation about education day after day here on CNN -- it's something that's close to my heart. How do you encourage the support for teachers from home, from the parents, the things that the kids need to do to prepare them to be great students?

BOLDEN: There are things that we're doing. If I look at my own granddaughter out in California, we have a program out there, in their school, that kind of attracts the parents after school to help them be able to help their students. And it gives the parents an opportunity to see that they, too, can benefit from math and science and they can have fun, whether it's helping them to help a child with a telescope, or helping them to build a model rocket or something else. So, it's incumbent upon us to try to go out and reach the parents.

VELSHI: Every one of us kids wants to grow up to be an astronaut, and you're a role model. Thank you so much for being with us today. And we congratulate you on the great work that's going on. We're enjoying watching it.

BOLDEN: Well, thank you very much. And I'm proud to be with this organization again.

Thank you.

VELSHI: Thank you, sir.

Charles Bolden, retired major General, and now the head of NASA, joining us today.

All right. When we come back, speaking about space, we're going to off the radar for a minute with Chad Myers. There he is. Hawaii is still the only state that has a drought. We're going to talk about that when we get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. You know, yesterday, a serious event in Austin, Texas. An airplane, single-engine plane, going into the building housing workers. We have more on that. What we got this morning was a spokesman speaking on behalf of Sheryl Stack, the wife of the pilot of that plane, Joseph Andrew Stack.

Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAYFORD WALKER, STACK FAMILY SPOKESMAN: "Words cannot adequately express my sorrow or the sympathy I feel for everyone affected by this unimaginable tragedy."

"I want to thank my friends, family, colleagues and neighbors, as well as members of my church and others, for their expressions of kindness and generosity in our time of grief."

"Due to the ongoing investigation related to this tragedy, I feel it best to make no comment beyond this statement and to not respond to questions of any nature."

"We appreciate the understanding and kindness of the news media in allowing us privacy and the personal space we need to get beyond the events of yesterday."

"Again, my sincerest sympathy to the victims and their families."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That is a gentleman named Rayford Walker who said he is not affiliated with any company. He has just met the family yesterday. The words he was reading were on behalf of the family. He was reading them in the words of Sheryl Stack, Joe Stack's wife.

Let's go to the scene of the crash. Casey Wian standing in front of the building into which that plane went.

Casey, what's the latest now? Where are we at in terms of investigations?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the investigation that that family spokesman spoke of is at full speed right now, Ali. We have seen all morning, behind me, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The FBI is the lead agency investigating this. They're clearly looking for evidence of potential accelerants that may or may not have been on this plane when this pilot crashed it into this building.

About four miles away from here is Mr. Stack's home. Investigators are combing through the burned-out wreckage of that house. We saw them up on a crane this morning, peering down into the building, taking pictures.

It's really quite the incredible effort trying to piece together how this tragedy unfolded yesterday. And we're beginning to get a little more information about the scope of the explosions in both places. Neighbors we spoke to back in the house this morning said that when this explosion happened yesterday, they came outside and they immediately saw Mr. Stack's house almost entirely engulfed in flames. We saw insurance investigators at one of the houses next door looking at damage there.

Just across the street from the office building where the IRS was headquartered, we just talked to a deli manager who said they felt their building shake all of the way across two levels of an interstate here. And that's how big that explosion was.

So, there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle, and investigators are trying to put them together now.

VELSHI: Yes, interesting point, because 50 gallons of fuel on a plane, on a small-engine plane, does not normally get associated with all of that damage. You can see just over your shoulder what a remarkable gap there is in the side of the building.

Casey, thanks very much. We'll check in with you again.

Casey Wian in Austin, Texas, on the investigation about that big event yesterday.

All right. Let me take you a little -- I think we're going to take a quick break. We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I don't know what you were calling it, but if you were calling it Iraq war, don't do that anymore, call it is "Operation New Dawn" and that is what the Obama administration is renaming the mission. A source tells CNN that the change reflects the drawdown of U.S. troops.

And in Haiti, commercial flights from the U.S. resumed this morning. Service had been suspended since the earthquake on January 12. Buildings at the Port-Au-Prince airport took damage that day including the main terminal. Some of the passengers on the first flights out were relief workers.

In Florida, Tiger Woods says he is sorry. The golf superstar broke his silence this morning about the sex scandal that sent his life into a tail spin. He was admitted cheating on his wife, but says domestic violence did not lead to his infamous crash 80 days ago. He also says he doesn't know when he will return to golf but didn't rule it out. Woods did not take any questions.

In Vancouver, the Americans could be on their way to finishing on top of the medal count for the first time in 18 years. The U.S. leads now with 18 medals including six golds.

In Las Vegas, President Obama is making another appearance at the bottom of the hour. We'll be there live. He's talking to tourism officials and the city's chamber of commerce, and he may have to win them over. He may be miffed after he took a dig at the city earlier this month. He compared government spending to blowing a bunch of cash in Vegas.

OK, time now for a quick look at your money, and one more u-turn from Mr. Toyoda, and that is Akio Toyoda with a "d". He is the president of the car company that his grandfather built up, and that safety issues are threatening to tear it down.

At first, Toyota plan to skip a Congressional Committee hearing plan for next Wednesday, now he says, he'll be there. The panel wants to know whether, Toyota, the company dragged its feet in addressing the defects that we're all dealing with now.

Monday is the day that credit card act signed into law last year will take effect on Monday. What does that means? Well, those of you with credit cards will no longer see arbitrary rate increases and costly fees for exceeding your credit limit, but with this comes transparency traps.

Look out for new fees and higher charges for using the credit card, and you don't get away if you don't make the payments. Don't forget to join me for "YOUR MONEY" 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and 3:00 p.m. Sunday right here on CNN for more on this discussion.

Now, more on this subject over my right shoulder is Ed Henry in Vegas with glasses on. Look at those fantastic glasses. That is what you have to look forward to when we come back from this break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right, there he is, Ed Henry, enjoying sunny Vegas, and you are allowed to now, because the president went out of the way to make amends and tell people it is OK. If you are wondering what is on the screen, Ed can't see it, but it is a notice here for those of you involved in Twitter to follow Ali Velshi on Twitter.

This is "The Ed Henry Segment" we do every day at this time with our senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry. What have you got?

ED HENRY, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have an Elvis impersonator who said you should follow EdHenryCNN. Well, what is interesting here with the president's remarks here in Henderson, and he said twice to be careful of spending your money in tough times.

And suggesting not to go to Vegas and that angered people including the mayor who is now an independent, and he said that the president is a slow learner, and all kinds of nasty things, because it is populist and easy thing for the mayor to go after the president.

And stand up for the city, but today, it is interesting when you played the remarks a while ago, the president did not apologize which the mayor wanted, but he said by the way, people should come here to Vegas, because it is a great city and spend their money. I thought I would take the president's advice and enjoy a little bit of Vegas.

Take a look. So we happened to be in Vegas where so much of Tiger Woods' scan played out. He made a statement in Florida but he didn't take questions from the reporters, but maybe we landed an exclusive with the golfer. Of course, this is just a wax figure here at Madame Tussauds on the strip.

What's interesting is they have a presidential exhibit that's been expanded to celebrate presidents' day. They have a surprise for President Obama. We're going to take a look at it.

So we're in the spirit of America room, they have the founding fathers and the 43rd president and American icons like the astronauts who went to the moon. They're celebrating black history month so you have Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan and here is what I like, the oval office and resolute desk used by JFK and where john-john crawled out.

President Obama now using this desk and photo of the dog there and this is a likeness of the president and pretty much the height, and what I really love is who is on speed dial. It tells you a lot about our president, Michelle, of course his wife. Joe Biden, the United Nations, (inaudible) Vatican and bono, and Michael Jordan and the president is a basketball fan.

He's from Chicago, but Oscar Goodman, the mayor of Las Vegas has been beating up on the president for beating up Vegas, so I don't think he is on speed dial anymore.

VELSHI: And this is a good likeness with more than 50 years in broadcasting. How is Larry doing so far? Pretty good. This is what I've always wanted to do. Here is my robe, and go party with Mr. Hefner.

HENRY: So a little bit of fun, Ali. It can't be all work out here in Vegas, so a little fun for "The Ed Henry Segment."

VELSHI: Well, you make a point to not make all work. Good gig out there. The president is going to be on in another three or four minutes again.

HENRY: Yes, a couple of minutes a. Short distance from where I am, which is at the City Center. As you know that's the $8 billion project to hopefully save Las Vegas and bring more people to the city. But I interviewed the owner of the MGM Mirage and he admitted that the occupancy rate right now is only 70 percent at City Centre, which is a vast casino-hotel.

They wanted to be at least 80 percent, and other casinos are 90 percent, which is the real goal, but they are coming back, but as the (inaudible) of the MGM Mirage said, we are healing, but slowly. We are seeing it around the country, but especially here in Vegas, it is pronounced. The foreclosure crisis hit them hard and casino revenue down, and people are not coming here, and the president is trying to make amends and push people to come back to Vegas and Orlando and all of the big cities.

VELSHI: You saw that on the Tweet, the president tried to make amends and I have a lot of responses by saying the president has not done anything wrong. It's not for you journalists to be saying so. Just to be clear, the president has said things about Vegas that really could not be taken any other way except for being critical of going to Vegas and spending money in gambling.

HENRY: Well, in fairness, top White House officials say it has been blown out of proportion, and in fairness at a town hall last month in New Hampshire, the president said, if you are saving for college, you can't blow money in Vegas and they say on his face.

He was right, you know, if you are making tough choices as a family, coming to Vegas and losing a boatload of money is not making a lot of sense. But unfortunately, in the culture, in the media (inaudible) now, when you compress it down to the sound bite it is sounding like, don't come to Vegas at all.

In fact, early last year when he made a similar comment the mayor claims that dozens and dozens of businesses canceled the conventions here, because they thought it would be a black eye on the corporation after the president said it is not a great idea, so there is balance there, and the White House thinks it is unfairly portrayed, but they think that it is a little bit out of balance and more fairness is needed there.

VELSHI: Thank you, Ed Henry. We will see you again on Monday on "The Ed Henry Segment." You will see Ed again today, because we will check back with him after the president speaks.

Also when we come back, I'm going to tell about what we're doing to figure out whether government in the United States is working. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Time now for "The X-Y-Z of It." I don't usually use this space to promote something, but next week we at CNN will focus on broken government. You might argue that much of government still works, checks are paid, and public hospitals still treat sick people. But the face of it, Washington, Congress, it appears to be broken. Our latest polling shows that most Americans think Congress isn't working, and people blame both parties almost equally. A survey of Congressional votes by Congressional Quarterly shows this Congress is the most partisan since they started keeping tabs back in 1953.

Moderates like Indiana Democrat Senator Evan Bayh said he will not run again. Argued that compromise is close to dead in Washington. Moderates on the Republican side are being squeezed out by a growing conservative movement. Just ask Republican Charlie Crist in Florida being challenged by a conservative opponent for the Senate nomination.

Ask John McCain once the standard bearer of moderate Republican sentiment also being challenged in his home state by someone more conservative from the same party.

In the meantime, bills are not being pass and Senate confirmations are not happening and in Evan Bayh's words, the people's work is not being done. You can't spit in Washington without someone telling you that the process is broken or the participants are not doing their job.

We are making a commitment to shine a bright light on this issue. We want to find out who is working for you. We don't want this to be an easy excuse to vent elected officials. Everyone has been there, and we can't talk about broken government without talking about how to fix it. We will offer real solutions to real problems all next on CNN right here broken government.

That's all the time I have. I'm Ali Velshi. I'll be here every weekday 1:00 Eastern, 10:00 Pacific. Now here's "RICK'S LIST."