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Doubts over Afghanistan Offensive; Arrests in Texas Church Fires; Your Government at Work?; New Credit Card Laws

Aired February 21, 2010 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Now what's happening right now.

Americans should brace themselves for heavy casualties in Afghanistan and that's according to the head of U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus. He tells NBC News that the current offensive against the Taliban in Marjah is just the start of a 12 to 18-month campaign.

Unlike the 2007 surge in Iraq, this could mean a lot more American casualties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: It'll be tough. They were tough in Iraq.

Look, I am -- I have repeatedly said that these types of efforts are hard and they're hard all the time. I don't use words like "optimist" or "pessimist"; I use "realist". And the reality is that it's hard. But we're there for a very, very important reason and we can't forget that, David.

We're in Afghanistan to ensure that it cannot once again be a sanctuary for the kind of attacks that were carried out on 9/11, which were planned initially in Kandahar, first training done in eastern Afghanistan before the attackers moved to Hamburg and then on to U.S. flight schools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, coalition and Afghan Forces are in the second week of the Marjah offensive. And even if it's a huge success, well, will it make the country as a whole more secure?

As our Ben Wedeman tells us, some have their doubts about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) the military might of the U.S.-led coalition and the Afghan Army has been brought to bear on the dusty town of Marjah, A Taliban strong hold in Helmand province. They've moved slowly forward hampered by a multitude of improvised explosive devices attempting to minimize civilian casualties.

And though the battle isn't over yet the Afghan flag now flies over the center of Marjah.

(on camera): Coalition officials are enthusiastic about the results so far of the Marjah offensive, but that upbeat assessment is not shared by everybody here in the Afghan capital.

(voice-over): Afghan parliament member Fawzia Kufi says Marjah's importance is being overstated.

FAWZIA KUFI, AFGHAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: I don't think that this district is strategically very, very important to bring peace and security all over the country. Taliban are very much scattered. It's not a very organized war. It's a guerilla war. And for that, you don't like having an organized structure war is not going to work with such, like, massive military operation.

WEDEMAN: But massive the operation in Helmand is; the largest since the toppling of the Taliban involving 15,000 troops and a small army of embedded reporters.

A good public relations move, says Akmal Dawi of the Afghanistan Rights Monitor, but a faulty strategy.

AKMAL DAWI, AFGHANISTAN RIGHTS MONITOR: They will clear Marjah. They will kill some Taliban members. They will raise the Afghan flag there but that won't end the problem of Afghanistan. The real problem is how to stop the resurgence of the Taliban and that's not only in Marjah. That's everywhere in this country.

WEDEMAN: In the past, more modest operations drove the Taliban out of troubled areas, only for them to reemerge once coalition troops moved on. This time the coalition is pledging to stay put, reestablish government authority and crack down on opium cultivation.

Akmal Dawi argues the problems start in the presidential palace, not the provinces.

DAWI: In order to succeed in Afghanistan we shouldn't start from a remote part of the country but right from Kabul, we need to improve the governance, we need to stop corruption, we need to stop the narco trade --

WEDEMAN: Retaking Marjah may be much less than half the battle in the struggle for Afghanistan.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We just want to go now to a developing story it is out of east Texas -- east Texas. Two men have been arrested and charged in connection with the string of deliberately set church fires. We first reported it to you last week here on CNN. Last weekend about this time we had that story for you.

So we want to go now to our CNN's Ed Lavandera. He is joining us in Dallas with more on the suspects who have been -- they have been picked up, right, arrested officially?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have. And they've been charged with one count of arson so far, but authorities, federal and state authorities here in Texas say that the two men arrested today will face more charges to come here as the investigation continues. And they anticipate to link them to all of the church fires that have happened since January 1st.

Ten fires in all, Don, that have happened at a variety of churches: Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Church of Christ, black churches and white churches as well. So this is a string of arson fires that had kept the town of Tyler and surrounding counties on edge since the beginning of the year.

But authorities here this afternoon have announced that they've arrested Jason Robert Bourque, 19 years old and a student at the University of Texas of Tyler and 21-year-old Daniel George McAllister. One of them was arrested in San Antonia last night and the other arrested in the Tyler area last night as well. Investigators say they are now in custody.

Just a few days ago we had been spending some time out in Tyler talking with one of the pastors from the burned down churches, one of the most recent burned down churches. And they've talked about the toll that these fires had taken on the community. Many people, Don, had been on edge for quite some time because of this.

But all of this, authorities say, will now come to an end because of the arrest of these two people. They say they do have DNA evidence to link one of these suspects so far to one of the fires; one of the fires that they had -- had been charged with as well.

However, authorities are not saying much as to the motives behind this. We do understand that they have been questioned by investigators throughout the day. But what kind of motivations, what led them to be accused of these fires is not clear at this point. They do say that the two --

LEMON: Ed --

LAVANDERA: -- the two men had gone to church together in one of the surrounding Baptist churches.

LEMON: Ed, I'm being told that there is -- from the press conference, we're just getting something in now. So let's take a listen to it then we'll talk about it, ok.

LAVANDERA: Ok.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MCCRAW, DIRECTOR TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: And we're being asked and had an obligation to protect these churches. There are 713 churches in this area of operation. So what we did in effect, working as a team of teams, has conducted a coordinated -- the largest coordinated patrol operation that has been seen in east Texas for one purpose, to prevent one more church from being burned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ok. So, Ed, we have a 19-year-old here and 21-year-old. Last week they released sketches of three people and now they've arrested two people. Do they believe that these sketches -- is this the same case? Is there possibly someone else out there they're looking for?

LAVANDERA: No, they say that those sketches have nothing to do with these arrests and that these are the not the people they were looking for. All along they had been calling those -- the people in those sketches persons of interest. That they were people that they think were seen at several of the church fires so they wanted to talk to them. But they say these two arrests are completely separate from them.

LEMON: And they're not only are accused of burning these churches, setting these churches on fire, they're also accused of robbing and taking things out of some of the churches as well.

LAVANDERA: Right, they have been. There were three break-ins at three other churches in the area as well. So they are looking into connecting them to that. They haven't been charged with that as well. And that was one of the things that had led this community to be still on edge. You know we've spent some time with a county commissioner last week driving around and kind of getting a sense of what people were doing to protect churches late into the night.

LEMON: Yes.

LAVANDERA: Many of these churches way out in the country and it was very hard to protect these churches, so that's why so many people were nervous about whether or not their church was going to be next.

LEMON: Yes. Ed Lavandera, thank you.

Of course, innocent until proven guilty but at least they are headed in the right direction and they are trying to figure out exactly what's going on. Ed, thank you very much.

LAVANDERA: You bet.

LEMON: We appreciate it.

You know the strike now under way at Lufthansa airlines. It may mean more to you than you probably think. Because you know, all the airlines are connected really. The German carrier has its several U.S. travel partners here. It's got several here; flights on those airlines maybe feeling the pinch as well.

And you know the National Governor's Conference is wrapping up tonight. So what's their main beef with Washington? You can probably guess. We're going to tell you when we come back.

And of course we want you to be part of our community. We want you to be part of this show. And make sure you send your feedback on the social networking sites.

See you on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, recent poll shows most Americans think their government is broken. Most Americas think government's broken. 86 percent of the people who participated in a CNN Opinion Research Corporation survey agreed with that gloomy assessment -- no other way of putting it. But there was one bright spot here. Even though most Americans think government is broken the survey shows most Americans also think the government can be fixed.

In a similar poll taken four years ago 78 percent said the government was broken. That shows the country is growing more pessimistic.

Two governors from New England say there is no time to lose on the urgent issues facing their states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JIM DOUGLAS (R), VERMONT: We've got a national debt that's now over $12 trillion. We've got unemployment that's higher than it's been in our lifetime. We have an economy and a government that are, indeed, broken. So we have no choice but to get folks in Washington to come together, to find some common ground as governors do, as we do in our states and address the challenges of the American people.

GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D) MASSACHUSETTS: We have large numbers of people out of work all across the country, in varying degrees and different ones of our states. The Congress has before it a proposal to extend unemployment benefits. That's not because we want people to become reliant on unemployment benefits it's just because we want our people to be able to bridge to a better and stronger economy.

There hasn't been action on that. There's a jobs bill that's been proposed by the White House, been in discussion up on -- up on Capitol Hill. I think the House has passed it. The Senate hasn't moved it. We need that kind of action and we need it now. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Those governors guests this morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY."

There are countless examples of incompetent and waste within the U.S. government. This one, however, potentially affects every man, woman and child in the country. An audit next week reportedly will show that the Census Bureau has already squandered nearly $5 million before the official census even begins.

Now, according to the Associated Press $3 million was wasted training 10,000 census workers who quit before doing any work after getting paid $300 each. Another 5,000 census workers quit after just one day on the job costing the government another $1.5 million. But perhaps, no one has a keener sense of how dysfunctional Washington is these days than the nation's governors. All 50 of them are in Washington this week for the annual governor's conference. Nearly all of their states are facing serious budget problems projecting of whopping total of $134 billion in 2012.

And the big problem is that states depend on the federal government for important expenditures such as Medicaid payments. So failure to enact health care reform to control costs impacts them directly. If there was a recurring theme at the governor's meeting it's that they want Washington to pay attention to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BRIAN SCHWEITZER (D), MONTANA: We now have two wars and we don't have an exit strategy for either one of them. We have a health care system that is broken. By broken I mean we pay twice as much as the other industrialized nations and we don't have a healthier population.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: My view is that -- Washington needs to listen more to the states. The Congress needs to listen more to governors. You know, we're the ones that deal directly with health care, with education, with the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You know, it is fairly obvious to everyone that Democrats and Republicans in Congress are not working well together -- working together at all. We hear a lot of lip service to the cooperation that they're trying to have -- the buzz word: bipartisanship, bipartisanship.

But the reality is both sides are at a cross purposes -- at cross purposes to each other. Last hour I spoke with CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser about the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I think something happened last month and we all remember this was up in Massachusetts. Scott Brown, a Republican, won the special senate election up there and that basically changed the dynamics here in Washington. He became the 41st Republican senator.

The Democrats didn't go. They just lost their supermajority in the senate. That has really changed the political landscape in this town.

Late last month you heard Barack Obama in the "State of the Union" address call for bipartisanship on some major issues like fixing the economy, creating jobs and on health care. We've heard repeated calls from him since then.

And also Don, I think a lot of these lawmakers, there's an anti- incumbent mood out there. A lot of these guys and women are up for re-election this year and they realize if they want to keep their offices they have to show that they can get things done.

I think these are three reasons why you're seeing that.

LEMON: Ok. So listen, based on those poll numbers clearly people are not happy. And I think one test will be on Thursday with this health care summit or meeting. What are the tests coming up next week to see if there's actually bipartisanship?

STEINHAUSER: Well, you mentioned Thursday and that is going to be a big deal; the president having top leaders from both parties over at the White House, at the Blair House. And that's going to be televised on CNN and other cable networks I would assume.

A big test to see if the Democrats and Republicans can play nice and try to find some common ground on health care. Even before that there's a bigger -- just as big a test as early as tomorrow where the U.S. Senate could vote on a jobs bill. And this bill has been pared down to about $15 billion. It sounds like a lot of money but I guess in Washington it really isn't.

This bill has got some good ideas that Republicans may like, including a plan to reduce taxes for small businesses, given breaks if they create new jobs. So it will be interesting to see if the Republicans, some come onboard, and help the Democrats try to pass this bill to help spur jobs.

So two big tests this week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: You know CNN is taking a hard look at the cracks in our system, trying to cut through the political games here, trying to find fixes. It's our new series; it's called "Broken Government". So make sure you look for it. Check it out all next week right here on CNN.

Help is on the way for millions of people struggling with credit card debt. New rules go into effect tomorrow. We'll take a look at the changes that you should see -- you might see coming up.

And stormy weather may keep the shuttle "Endeavour" crew in space longer than expected.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: New credit card rules take effect tomorrow. Some of the changes that you'll see, credit card companies must give you a 45-day notice before they raise your rates and fees. The new rules prohibit rate hikes on existing balances unless you are 60 days overdue. There are no rate hikes for the first year and it will be tougher for people under 21 to get credit cards. And that's probably a good thing.

Authorities trying to figure out why a freight train jumped a track outside of Bakersfield, California; a train car full of plastic pellets caught fire. Flames and a toxic cloud spewed into the air. Seven homes remain evacuated following last night's derailment. There are no serious injuries. Authorities are urging residents to keep their windows and doors closed just as a safety precaution.

You know pilots for one of the world's biggest airlines on strike. It could cause travel chaos all over the world. Lufthansa pilots say they're walking off their jobs for four days over pay and contract issues. The German-based airline has already canceled some 800 flights a day. If you are flying on Lufthansa, you can go to its Web site to find out if your flight is still on schedule.

NASA says tonight's scheduled landing for the space shuttle "Endeavour" could come down to the wire. Look at that. Those pictures are always beautiful from space, aren't they? Just look at them.

The shuttle and its six astronauts scheduled to land at Florida's Kennedy Space Center at about 10:20 p.m. Eastern tonight. If it does happen we'll carry it live and if it doesn't we'll have it live, the non-launch and we'll tell you what's going on. So make sure you tune in.

The backup landing site though is Edward's Air Force base in California. But weather there also iffy. So "Endeavour", you know, they can remain in orbit. Astronauts there for Tuesday, if necessary, Jacquie, so we'll talk about the weather there.

Hey, you know what I wanted to talk to about was the fire at the amusement park. Did you see that? You know why I want to talk about it.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know, Adventure Land, burned.

LEMON: Adventure Land in Iowa. So tell us why we want to talk about that.

JERAS: Because I had my very first date with my husband there.

LEMON: First date.

JERAS: It was very enjoyable. We had a good time. They have a great roller coaster there. Yes. It's in Des Moines, Iowa, by the way. Great place.

LEMON: Yes. And it is you know. And this time of year, is it closed or is it open this time of year?

JERAS: It's closed.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Luckily it was closed. You know, hopefully everything is ok and they can rebuild it. Did he win you prizes? Any stuffed animals?

JERAS: I don't remember. We were in college so we didn't have a lot of money to play the games, you know.

LEMON: Thank you Jacqui. More on that story in just a little bit.

So what's going on with the weather?

JERAS: Let's talk about the shuttle conditions. Landing as you said 10:20. And we should know by 9:20 Eastern whether or not this is going to happen because that's when they're going to have to start the de-orbiting burn.

And it's not necessarily a rain thing. It's the clouds that we have been seeing. And here, there have been a couple breaks so they've been getting a little bit more optimistic. See that right in there. We'll have to wait and see.

Yes. They say it's going to be down to the wire here. But my guess is this very well may be a no-go. So you have to have a backup site, right? So you're looking at Edward's Air Force base out there. That's not looking good with the rain showers and the cloudiness either. So we'll have to continue to watch this.

Florida looks worse tomorrow, by the way, for a Kennedy landing but it look like things will clear out in the West for an Edwards landing. So my thinking right now is that it may end up being the best-case scenario for them. And you know, this is their last time in space for some of those astronauts.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: You and I won't be here at 11:20 tonight going to look at the space shuttle. No?

JERAS: Probably not.

LEMON: At 10:20, whenever it's supposed to land, you know.

JERAS: 10:20. We might, we might. You get that one break. You know the clouds can't be within 30 nautical miles. I mean that's a tough prediction to make.

LEMON: All right. Sorry to interrupt. Continue.

JERAS: That's ok.

Let's talk about the storm in the nation's midsection now, shall we? This has kind of been the big deal throughout the day today causing lots of accidents in Kansas, heavy snow into northern Missouri. And there you can see that's moving up towards the Chicago land area as we speak. We've been getting some accumulations in here on the range of about 4 to 6 inches now. Some isolated amounts up to 7. I think that's the best you're going to get with this storm.

Chicago's been seeing rain; a little bit of mixing at times. This should change to all snow. And really, right along I-88 and northward is where we expect to see the heaviest accumulations with this storm.

We do have winter weather advisories in effect for Chicago, as well as Milwaukee. Winter storm warnings for you over here in Detroit where you'll see likely heavier amounts maybe on the range of 4 to 8 inches of snowfall overall for you.

Travel delays not good. Already ahead of the storm, almost an hour and a half at Chicago; we've got delays in San Francisco, Detroit 30 minutes for you. LaGuardia because of winds, 30 minutes and that's the same story about for you in Newark.

The big picture for tomorrow then shows our storm system as it moves to the Great Lakes. Rain here in the southeast so Atlanta, Charlotte, even Washington, D.C., likely to see delays because of the rain and the clouds. And we also have a system here across the Four Corners. The one in California today that I was talking about moves in and brings in some heavy snow. We have winter storm warnings and some watches posted here; 18, 16 inches in the higher elevations.

And snow to Texas we think on Tuesday. It looks like we could see some accumulations potentially in Dallas and maybe even into Austin. So we'll be watching that storm as it continues to track east.

LEMON: Sorry to interrupt. I'm just a backseat meteorologist.

JERAS: I like when you ask me questions.

LEMON: Wannabe.

JERAS: You interrupt me any time you want.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Jacqui. See you in a bit.

JERAS: Ok.

LEMON: Fresh from his meeting with President Obama, amid formal protests launched by the Chinese government, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet is one-on-one with Larry King tomorrow night. That exclusive interview at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN. Make sure you tune in for Larry King.

You know he put his own life on hold and his health on the line to improve the life for other people. You'll meet this remarkable young man who is near the end of his cross-country foot race that he calls "Hope or Die."

And just ahead, a bill to create jobs for Americans set to come to the Senate floor, but its chance don't look really good. Your "Broken Government" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Ok. Modest improvement in the jobless rate across America; unemployment fell from 10 percent in December to 9.7 in January. But you can see it's much higher for African-Americans and it's well over 16 percent.

So improving those numbers could be an uphill battle in Congress. A Democratic-backed jobs bill in the Senate is expected to come up for a test vote tomorrow night. Key Republicans have already withdrawn their support and without at least 60 votes odds are the bill will not get past the procedural hurdle.

So creating jobs was one of the major goals of the stimulus bill. So this past week marked one year since the president signed it. Can we call it a success or a failure so far? Can we?

As our Jim Acosta tells us it depends on whom you ask.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One year out and the president and his cabinet were in campaign mode.

RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This bold program's first year has made a crucial difference to our struggling economy.

ACOSTA: They even brought in some Republican muscle.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: I was one of the first governors to come out and to support the Recovery Act and the stimulus money and I put politics aside.

ACOSTA: But putting politics aside is not what the White House has in mind. Democratic Party officials had e-blasted Obama campaign supporters, touting the stimulus as a job creator.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are those, let's face it, across the aisle who have tried to score political points by attacking what we did. Even as many of them show up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects in their districts.

ACOSTA: And the president is pointing fingers at Republicans who oppose the stimulus then supported elements of the program. House minority whip Eric Cantor voted no but last April, he spoke in favor of a stimulus high-speed rail project in his Virginia district.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MINORITY WHIP: The estimates of job creations are 85,000 to 160,000 some jobs to the commonwealth. Most of that in this area. That should be and in my opinion, the focus of what the stimulus bill should have been.

ACOSTA: Cantor is one of the target in a new DNC web video on stimulus hypocrisy.

CANTOR: I do think it is fair to say that the stimulus is a flaw.

ACOSTA: A Cantor spokesman responded to CNN asking "If you support one percent of a bill and oppose 99 percent, are you expected to vote for it?"

Here's a photo of Republican Phil Gingrey holding a stimulus check for a sidewalk project in his Georgia district. Gingrey also opposed the stimulus. REP. PHIL GINGREY (R), GEORGIA: We call it a spendulus (ph) bill on the Republican side of the aisle.

ACOSTA: In this letter from Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, as one of several from GOP lawmakers asking the Labor Department for stimulus money for their districts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy anniversary.

ACOSTA: The Republican Senate campaign committee has its own stimulus anniversary ad showing a familiar looking but faux search engine named boondoggle. That refers to the recovery act as an epic failure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one-year anniversary of the stimulus.

ACOSTA: Stimulus critics argue the program has fallen short of administration promises at a huge cost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The point of the stimulus was to help prevent another great depression.

TOM SCHATZ, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE: The stimulus, the bailout, all the spending in Washington has created the great debt.

ACOSTA (on camera): A spokesman for Congressman Ryan told us the Wisconsin Republican, "does not believe a flawed policy should get in the way of doing his job for constituents in his district." House minority leader John Boehner, House minority whip Eric Cantor, Congressman Gingrey and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell all declined interviews. Their aides say the lawmakers were traveling in their districts and unavailable for comment.

Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jim.

U.S. governors meeting this weekend in Washington have been among the most impassioned and articulate in addressing the issue of broken government. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: The rubber hits the road with governors, with the states. That's where the problems are and we wonder the remoteness that exists and the lack of connection between Washington and the states.

GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: The economy is a huge issue, but so is the deficit that states are facing and that's making governors make some very difficult decisions regarding spending cuts and the like. And so it's a challenging time for everyone, but the key to all of this is to get the economy moving again and get jobs growing again. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So there he is. You see him. CNN's political editor Mr. Mark Preston. As I call him, the hardest working man in the news business. Are you trying to give Wolf Blitzer a run for his money? What's going on with you?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I don't anybody can take (INAUDIBLE) Wolf.

LEMON: I think he had a record once. Wasn't it like the most hours on television or something? So listen, let's talk business here. Jobs. Jobs bill coming up for a vote tomorrow in the Senate. Why aren't Republicans onboard with it?

PRESTON: Well, clearly they have problems with it, you know. Look, there's a couple things at work here in Washington. I don't think our viewers should be too surprised. The fact is there's politics at work. If you have Republicans who are supporting measures that are largely seen as Democratic driven then that's going to hurt Republicans at the polls come November.

It's hard to run against the Democratic Party if you're supporting their bills. There's also policy issues. You know? If you can believe it they don't necessarily always agree with what's going on in that bill. The fact is you wouldn't see a majority of the Republicans sign on to this bill that we could see come up in the Senate tomorrow.

Anyway, there would have been enough Republicans for it to pass like you wouldn't have seen an overwhelming amount of support. So that's why I think you're seeing cold feet on the Republican side.

LEMON: So you're saying, listen, on something that could potentially add jobs and could be successful that Republicans aren't signing on because if it's a success then it looks like a Democratic win? Is that what you're saying?

PRESTON: I think you're using the key word there, is potentially could work. You know, if you look back at the stimulus bill, you know, Republicans will say, look at all the money that we dedicated to the stimulus bill. We don't think the stimulus bill is working.

Of course, you know that's up for debate to see whether it has, or it hasn't worked. I mean, for me personally I think you still have to wait and see. I mean, I don't think even though you were to throw all that money at it you're going to see it actually turn around, Don.

LEMON: Yes.

PRESTON: But I think Republicans could say, look, potentially isn't strong enough for us to put more money towards jobs if we don't think they're actually going to be created.

LEMON: I get what you're saying. I was just wondering, it's the same thing if it was, you know, if Republicans would be in charge. They'd be asking the same thing about Democrats. If there was something that could potentially help the economy and the other side doesn't see it as a win for their party so they vote against it. It just doesn't seem to make sense. That's why we're talking about this broken government thing here.

So listen, let's talk about the governors. Why is it that - because, you know, they have the meeting and this is the end of their meetings today. Why is it much easier from both parties to work together on issues like jobs as governors, than for members of Congress to do it?

PRESTON: Well, you know, governors have this common bond that they - they all rely on Washington, D.C., collectively so. You know, of course, there's all these federal programs that the governors need in order to keep their budgets afloat. And look, unlike the federal government which is able to run a deficit, they have to balance their books every year.

So that's why you see when the national governors come here to Washington, D.C., every year for their annual meeting you'll see Democratic and Republican governors sitting at the same table saying, look, Washington is broken and they need to get things fixed. I mean, what really irks governors and state legislators is the fact there are these unfunded mandates. That's when the federal government says you need to implement a certain program but we're not giving you any money. So there's all these common bonds that even if you're a Democrat or a Republican governor, you're going to agree on it together.

LEMON: OK. Listen, let's take some comments here from a web site. Let's see. This one is on twitter. This person say, Don Lemon, it's from bubble free (ph), the government is broken. I also agree it can be fixed. Nothing is too late until we choose to deny it. And Mark, that also goes to what the poll says. They think government is broken but they believe that government can be fixed.

And then one person says, I just think the Republicans are broken and need to be voted out if they are just going to say no. So should they be voted out? That's also a question that was talked about a lot this morning, especially on the Sunday shows. Republicans being seen as a party of no. And especially among governors. It's a different story when you listen to congressmen and when you listen to governors. It seems like there's a disconnect there.

PRESTON: Yes. There is that disconnect. In the past three days I've been covering a meeting here in Washington, D.C., of conservatives. You know, the whole idea of the label of being a party of no, Republicans did not embrace that initially. But we saw it this past weekend, that in fact, they are embracing the idea of the party of no because they realize that they need to do so.

Again, let's go back to the political angle of this. They need to say that the party of no in order to try to win in November. They need to be the opposition, the loyal opposition to what they think is being done here in Washington incorrectly. They don't agree with President Obama and his policies. They don't agree with the majorities in the House and the Senate and what the Democrats are doing.

So the whole idea of the party of no, I mean, the bottom line, is the government broken? Sure, it's broken in the sense that there are a lot of people that are unemployed. There are people, you know, getting forced out of their houses. But you know, let's rewind about five or six years ago, people probably didn't think anything was broken. Everything was spending freely, but, you know, the bubble burst on us about what, 14, 15 months ago.

LEMON: Yes, it seems like, you know what, you may be winning the political game but you're not winning anything for Americans by having this stalemate. Hey, as we say good-bye to you, Mark, I just want to show you this one thing I thought was interesting. Someone said, is government broken? They said, no, it's not. The parties are at fault. It's the system. Now we need term limits for congress. New blood, new ideas, no traditions. Very interesting, right? We might see that happening during the midterms.

PRESTON: Sure. That's a theme we hear every so often. I'll tell you why that won't happen, though. The party won't let it happen.

LEMON: All right. Mark Preston, thank you very much.

You know, CNN is taking a hard look at the cracks in our system. We're cutting through the political games and we're looking at fixes. The new series, we call it "Broken Government." Make sure you catch all next week, right here on CNN.

The first family, celebrating Black History month among the stars. And Jonathan Prince is running, running and running from the West Coast to the nation's capital. He's doing it all for charity and through all kinds of weather. He's going to cool his jets right here, though, in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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LEMON: So Jonathan Prince is chasing a dream or maybe I don't know, he may be a little bit nutty when you hear this story. More like running after that dream really to make life better for the less fortunate. It's really good that you're doing this. He's already crossed the country from L.A. to Georgia and he's on his way to D.C., which is the finish line for you, right? And you're hoping, at the finish line, at least the last mile or the last block or even the last yard, you're hoping to have someone join you.

JONATHAN PRINCE, RUNS FOR CHARITIES: President Obama, if -

LEMON: Go ahead.

PRINCE: If President Obama, you're not the only one running the country. If I make it to Washington, D.C., when I make it to Washington, D.C., I'd love to run the last mile with you.

LEMON: You're running the country as well in a different way. As they say, you isn't too proud (INAUDIBLE)

PRINCE: I'm not too proud.

LEMON: All right. So listen, you started in L.A. at the Santa Monica Pier. Where did you start?

PRINCE: Absolutely. I started October 15th, 2009, from the Santa Monica pier.

LEMON: OK. And then now you're here.

PRINCE: And now I'm here.

LEMON: Before I get to how far you run and how many days and all that, tell them what you're doing, what charities. Why you came up with his harebrain scheme. No. It's a good idea.

PRINCE: I wanted to organize an initiative to inspire hope to the people. There was a story that you guys reported on back in 2008 of a 45-year-old man who went home, killed his entire family due to the disparity of being unemployed for four months. It should never get that deep for anyone to take their life and their family.

So maybe if through my running I can inspire people to just hold on for another week, two, then maybe things will change. I just want to do my part to, you know, give back.

LEMON: So you're helping - one, inspiration, mental inspiration, right, and spiritual inspiration. You're helping Haiti and you're helping other charities. Tell us about that.

PRINCE: Absolutely. You know, my run is to inspire people to hold on regardless of what your -

LEMON: -- your situation is. Your station is, right?

PRINCE: Right. And so we have six non-profit organizations that we pinpointed. People can donate to those at hopeordie.org. And we're also raising funds to donate directly to Haiti on wechoosehope.com.

LEMON: OK. Looking at this video. Where were you here? Because if you're going from California you got some really hot and then really cold and then -

PRINCE: Absolutely.

LEMON: You're dealing with all the elements.

PRINCE: This was actually leaving Pecos, Texas, back in December. Extremely cold. I believe it was 25 degrees, and Spyro came to the table and made sure we had, you know, some warm running clothes and it made the day's run that much more -

LEMON: The reason I'm looking at this, I have a note here from the producer that says there have been times your sponsorships didn't come through and you had to pay your own way. This motel, you got free motel rooms in Pecos when someone found out what you were doing?

PRINCE: It was unbelievable, man. We were down to our last few dollars and the Pecos Economy Inn in Pecos, Texas, decided to put us up for a few days to let us rest. They also offered me the key to the city.

LEMON: Oh, really? OK.

PRINCE: It turned out to be an amazing experience because more and more people are choosing hope across the country.

LEMON: I just want to ask you, I think this is probably the most important question. People know, we'll tell them where they can give and all that.

PRINCE: OK.

LEMON: Going across America and meeting people. What have you learned about Americans as you go across this country?

PRINCE: Americans are so hopeful. You know, they have that belief that things will get better. And I totally - I totally advocate what President Barack Obama has been preaching in regards to his campaign. But it's not going to come from just him. It's going to come from everybody taking accountability in their own lives and making the changes themselves.

LEMON: You're a good man for doing this and giving all the money away. So listen.

PRINCE: Absolutely.

LEMON: Congratulations to you. You're a better man. I can't even do 20 minutes on the treadmill every day.

PRINCE: You could if you put your mind to it, Don.

LEMON: I'll come running with you. I'll come running. Give me an update and I'll see. I'll come help you out.

PRINCE: Absolutely.

LEMON: I'm going to need new sneakers, though.

PRINCE: OK. We can probably make Nike hook that up.

LEMON: I'll get them myself. Thank you very much. Again, hope or die -

PRINCE: Hopeordie.org. And people can upload their photo at wechoosehope.com.

LEMON: Thank you, sir.

PRINCE: Thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

You know, there is a woman now at the helm of the country's oldest civil rights organization. We'll introduce you to her.

And police in Texas believe they caught those responsible for a string of church fires. Don't go away.

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LEMON: So we want to check your top stories right now. Imagine getting caught in this. Look at that. At first it looks like smoke, but that's actually mud. Mudslides. A frantic search under way on the Portuguese resort island of Madeira. Rescue teams are combing through the mud and debris looking for people buried in terrifying mud slides that followed heavy rains Madeira. Search teams are combing through the mud. At least 42 people killed, 120 others hurt and the toll could rise because an unknown number of people are still missing.

Investigators in Iowa say the ceiling of a toy store collapsed and sparked a fire at an amusement park. It broke out yesterday at the Adventure Land Park in Altoona. The fire was contained to the park's main street area. The park is closed for the season fortunately.

Two men have been arrested and charged in connection with a string of deliberately-set church fires in east Texas. Jason Robert Bourque and Daniel George McAllister were charged with one count of arson each. Authorities say they believe the men are connected to nine other church fires set in the area since January 1st.

The first family celebrating Black History month with a musical tribute at the White House. The Obamas hosted singers, actors, you name it, they were there. You know, I was talking earlier with politico's Nia-Malika Henderson about maybe a lack of emphasis on black history month these days. Check it out.

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LEMON: You know what, it's black history month, I haven't really - is it me that I haven't heard that much about it because I'm not in fifth grade any more or maybe it's local news. I don't know. Am I off on that?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, POLITICO.COM: I don't think you're off. In some I have felt the same way. I had to call one of the aides at the White House and say what has this White House done for black history month. They have had a couple of events there, simple rites, a musical celebration there.

But in some ways, black history has been woven throughout this White House and throughout this administration if you think about the folks they have had there in musical celebration, Stevie Wonder. Last month they hung the emancipation proclamation in the Oval office, a bust of Martin Luther King is also in the Oval Office. And they changed the artwork to reflect more African-American artists in the White House. So it's very odd. It's almost like, you know, and maybe we have come to a point where there is no need for black history month. I don't know. But I mean, you hear this president talk about black history whether it's Martin Luther King very frequently and he showcases black culture quite frequently in the White House.

LEMON: Yes, I use to hear and you know, maybe it is the way we consume our media now. You know, channel 48 celebrates Black History month or you know, this product person celebrates Black History month. Whatever the company was and you would see the ads on television and you'd see it in the newspaper. I'm not seeing it that much anymore. Are you saying maybe that is a good thing?

HENDERSON: Maybe that is a good thing. I mean, I think you're right. I remember seeing those commercials, too. And you know, there'd be some sort of candle and a picture of Martin Luther King or something.

LEMON: Right.

HENDERSON: But I haven't seen those. It very well could be because we have reached a new period. This period with an African- American president, an African-American first family, who is always on TV, on magazine covers and really permeating American culture in a way that we've never seen before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: You know what, there has been a changing of the guard for the country's oldest civil rights organization. Roslyn Brock, a health care executive from Maryland has been named the NAACP's new chair. Brock had been serving as the group's vice chair. She's now ready to help give the NAACP an image makeover.

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ROSLYN BROCK, NAACP CHAIRMAN: My goal and mission as chairman of the board of NAACP is to ensure that our policies, our programs and our politics are relevant to a new generation of human and civil rights advocates. I want to be able to get the word out that the NAACP is alive and well. And that we are a multicultural, multiracial organization and it is our goal to extend a broader net to encourage all Americans who believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to come and join us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Brock replaces Julian Bond who held the post since 1998.

Listen, buckle up. You have heard that before, no doubt. But wait until you see the seat belt PSA that has got a lot of people all around the world listening up.

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LEMON: So listen, it is one of the rules of the road, right? Wear your seat belt. A new video called "Embrace Life" is making that message loud and clear. It has become a world wide phenomenon. Really a viral video. Take a look at this.

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LEMON: You know, striking images there. A British organization sponsored the video. The director of "Embrace Life" told CNN what inspired him to do this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL COX, DIRECTOR: The inspiration of "Embrace Life" came you from wanting to offer a positive message towards road safety, really. A lot of the campaigns focus on the more graphic and horrific outcomes of accidents. Whereas I really wanted to bring people into the conversation of the safety area, an area where you're normally surrounded by your loved ones. And the car can be an extension of that. It's not only yourself that's impacted if something (INAUDIBLE) goes wrong, but also family and friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We want to say that CNN's Josh Levs did that interview via Skype with the CEO. You know, you can see that entire video at cnn.com/newsroom or on CNN.com/don. Leave your comments and we will probably read some of that on the air.

Listen, I'm listening to some of your comments or reading some of them. I just want to say we did the story about Lufthansa and the strike. That's going on there. I got an e-mail. I got a tweet here that says Lufthansa U.S.A. . It said Don Lemon, I saw your coverage, we're manning phone, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Flyer Talk, overtime. Schedule and rebook policy on Lufthansa LH.com.

So listen, thank you so much for watching. See you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Good night.