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President Obama's Surprise Trip to Afghanistan; November Jobless Rate Hits 9.8 Percent; Snowbound in Buffalo

Aired December 03, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Tony Harris. Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen. Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.

Presidential visit. Mr. Obama drops in on U.S. troops in Afghanistan to deliver holiday greetings. We are live from Afghanistan.

Snow misery. Trapped for hours, and more snow coming down. We will show you how the people hit hard in Upstate New York are coping with a crippling storm.

You're online right now. We are, too. And one of the top stories you're tracking, the artist who had a camera surgery implanted in his head.

Let's do this -- let's quickly get started with our lead story.

President Obama in Afghanistan right now. A holiday season visit with U.S. troops. For security reasons, an undisclosed visit. We found out about an hour ago.

Our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, started reading the tea leaves a little earlier than that.

Ed, what can we expect to unfold during this trip?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, the president is going to be addressing U.S. troops shortly. We're not exactly sure what time because the schedule has been changing on the fly.

This was a surprise trip, done under the cover of night. The president leaving Andrews Air Force Base last night around 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Reporters in the small group of the pool of reporters who are there with the president were told to show up. It was all kept very secret.

They had their bags and their electronic devices initially taken away so that they wouldn't start sending out tweets or e-mails to anyone. They wanted to keep it as secure as possible. And the reason why the schedule is now changing on the ground is the fact that there's been this heavy storm, winds of around 65 miles per hour in Kabul. So the president now cannot leave Bagram Air Force Base to go to Kabul as he planned, because the helicopter can't take off.

He wanted to go to Kabul to meet with President Karzai. He was going to be at the presidential palace. Instead, we're told the president has had some sort of a phone call with President Karzai to check in on the situation.

Obviously, the backdrop here -- and there's some construction behind me, so I apologize for that, here at the White House.

HARRIS: No worries.

HENRY: But the bottom line is the backdrop for all of this is the president has a big, big year-end review coming from some of his top national security aides, presenting that to him in about a week to give an idea of the situation there on the ground. So this obviously gives the commander in chief a chance, just a second trip as commander in chief to Afghanistan, to actually see all of that first hand, number one. And number two, we're told by White House aides the president wants to thank the men and women serving in harm's way, who are serving far from their families for the holidays.

Thanksgiving just passed. Christmas and Hanukkah now coming upon us. And so, bottom line is the president wants to thank these troops. Many of them, we're told, are from the 101st Airborne Division. Some of these folks have been on four tours of duty between Iraq and Afghanistan, away from their families several holiday seasons in a row, not just one -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Our Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry.

We will be speaking with our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, shortly.

But here at home, the jobless rate up to 9.8 percent in November. Just 39,000 new jobs added are short of what experts predicted.

The CNN Money team is here to go over these disappointing numbers.

There you see the man, our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, right here next to me in Atlanta. And Christine Romans in New York.

And Ali, let me start with you. You're here, doggone it. Let's start with you.

Are you disappointed by these numbers? And what do they tell you? And how long a road are we on here? Is there any short-term fix that gets us some kind of a pop here, or is this all about a strategy to repair these things over the long term?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good questions.

First of all, I'm disappointed. I, and a lot of other people, thought the number would be above 150,000 jobs.

In October, we created 175,000 jobs. So you don't make trends out of a month. But the fact is we wanted something more sustained, because we have actually got to have more jobs than all of that being created just to keep things going.

So look at job growth this year. We looked like we were off to a promising start, and then we fell back.

Now, how long is it going to last? Here's an interesting fact for you.

Businesses in America -- you and I have talked about this for months -- are stockpiling money. They've got money.

All sorts of people will tell you why they're not deploying that money, why they're not expanding, why they're not hiring people. Some people will tell you it's because of uncertainty about taxes and health care and stuff like that. I think it comes right down to this -- and Christine agrees with me on this one, I know -- it's about demand. When people start shopping for stuff, and you can't make that stuff fast enough, or you can't staff your store fast enough to sell it, you will hire people.

HARRIS: Christine, do you agree with that?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I absolutely agree. And that's the key that we can't really or haven't been able to unlock here yet. And that's what is at the base of all of the discussions about what the Fed is doing, how well the stimulus has worked, whether we're going to tighten our belts with the fiscal commission recommendation.

Everything goes back to tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, tax cuts for the middle class, whether you extend unemployment benefits. All of those big discussions come down to the very bottom line -- are people -- is demand going to come back for companies so they can start hiring again? And even when that demand comes back, they might not hire in the very beginning anyway because they're still scarred and nervous. But it all comes back to that, and we've not been unable to unlock that yet.

VELSHI: So you see the chicken and the egg here, right?

HARRIS: Well, yes.

VELSHI: If you had jobs, you'd have more demand. And if you had more demand, you'd have more jobs.

HARRIS: Well, for both of you -- Ali, to you first -- so we're hearing all of this noise on Capitol Hill about, we've got to focus on jobs, we've got to focus on jobs. What do we do? What is that Republicans can do with Democrats? What is it they can do to better focus on jobs in the way that we haven't been focusing to this point?

VELSHI: Right. OK. That's a great question.

I think the best thing that they can do right now is heed the message from the American people that you need to stop fighting and everybody needs to stop being dug in on their side of this. The bottom line is, we all generally agree that we don't want government creating jobs. We want the private sector creating jobs.

We've had 11 months of the private sector actually creating jobs, so that part's good. What do you do to goose the private sector creating jobs? Well, one is you try and create demand, and the second one is you try and not make it burdensome for them to do it. That's kind of what the Republicans are saying, can we reduce --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: We've made money as cheap as we can make money for them.

VELSHI: Right. What do you do?

HARRIS: Christine, what else do we do?

ROMANS: Well, you know, that's -- if you're a Republican, you have a different idea than if you're a Democrat, and if you're a economist --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Then make the case if you're a Republican. Christine, make the case if you're a Republican that continuing to cut taxes will help.

ROMANS: Right. Let me make this other case.

There are some economists out there who say in the interim, until we know what that thing is that turns the switch, then you need to be spending a bunch of money in the economy to get things going again. And that's not something that politically is going to happen for the Democrats or the Republicans.

Look, they're trying to get through an extension of unemployment benefits, Tony. We know, according to the CBO, that every dollar of a jobless check equals I think $1.60 or $1.90 of stimulus in the economy. And you still can't get that through. You know what I mean?

So there are some economists like Joe Stiglitz and others who say you need to have the Fed doing something and you need to have Congress spending more money --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: I know. So there's politic, there's economics, and no one really knows what that thing is that's going to be that sparks the economy for jobs.

VELSHI: It's confidence.

ROMANS: And it's confidence, but we know that it's not in this report. We don't see the confidence in this report, that's for sure.

HARRIS: All right.

VELSHI: We've got to go back to date night. Remember date night?

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

VELSHI: Everybody does date night Saturday night, go out, spend some money. That's what we're going to have to do, go back to date night.

HARRIS: Right.

Christine, appreciate it.

Ali, as always. And we'll see you at the top of the hour, sir.

All right. Let's get to our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. He's in Kabul, Afghanistan.

And Nic, look, the president is there. He is on the ground.

The president had hoped to meet face to face with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. There is a lot for these two men to talk about. They might not meet face to face. It may be a phone conversation. But there is a lot on the table for these two men to talk about.

Am I right?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. I mean, today was the day, if President Obama was going to meet with President Karzai and get him through a bad day when WikiLeaks dumped a lot of dirt at President Karzai's feet -- and a lot of it, coming from U.S. officials, this was the day -- but there was no sign of that at the presidential palace.

We were down there a few minutes ago. The dust storm stopped President Obama flying in to meet President Karzai, but there were hundreds of yard of red carpet laid out, little candles floating on the small marble lakes. It was very pretty -- American flag flying next to Afghan flags. You never would have thought that there was a disconnect between these two leaders at the moment -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. And look, the president's surge strategy, which, as we all know at this point, brought U.S. troop levels up to $100,000, is under review this month.

What factors are the president's national security team looking at here as part of this review?

ROBERTSON: Well, one of the things they're going to be looking at is the success of the surge in Kandahar. I've just spent the last week down there with troops in the city and out in (INAUDIBLE), one of the most dangerous areas for U.S. troops until recently. Security is improving, and those national security advisers are going to look at that and say hey, is this surge working?

But they're going to dig deeper like we did and they're going to look at some of the Afghan leaders who President Karzai has put in place there like the police chief. The police force in Kandahar is supposed to be built up. The police chief is a former warlord.

That doesn't really cut the ice down there with the mayor of the city or the governor. They're both really surprised at this appointee. And the residents the same of Kandahar.

So you've got improvement in security. U.S. troops have helped deliver that. But can the Afghans match it? That's the kind of digging and the answers that President Obama's national security advisers are going to be looking for and listening to the force commanders down there right now -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK.

Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is joining us from Kabul, Afghanistan.

You see the -- I believe that's still the live picture. Correct, Roger?

Yes, the live picture from where we expect the president to make remarks. We just can't give you a fix on the time, but you see everyone gathered.

You would expect that the statements would come shortly. But we'll continue to watch that shot and monitor that location. And as soon as the president makes his appearance into that hall, we will take you there live.

You know if a snowstorm paralyzes Buffalo, New York, it's got to be a big one, right? We're back with that story in a moment.

But first, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. President Obama making a surprise trip to Afghanistan to visit with troops ahead of the Christmas holiday season. The president expected at Bagram Air Force Base, this particular hall here at the base -- auditorium -- let's call it an auditorium -- momentarily to speak to the assembled military personnel. When the president begins his remarks, we will of course take you to Afghanistan live here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Buffalo, New York, is no stranger to heavy snow, but this is a bit much for early December. Look at this. Storms blowing in from Lake Erie. That snow machine, that lake-effect snow machine really churning, dumping several feet of snow on the region. Drifts are six feet high in some places, and more snow is literally op the way.

And we'll get to Karen Maginnis on that in a moment.

A lot of folks stuck for up to 20 hours in their vehicles as the snow shut down major highways. This storm is weird in another way. It has been snowing and thundering at the same time, and the snow still coming down.

Our iReporters are sending us some great pics and videos.

Frank Rodriguez works in an office that backs up to the snow- clogged interstate highway in Buffalo. He's with us on the phone now.

And Frank, tell us more about when you look out of your office window, what are you seeing? Are you just seeing a row of cars stuck in all of the snow?

FRANK RODRIGUEZ, HELPING STORM VICTIMS: Yes, basically. From the time I had come into the office early in the morning, there was -- I was basically just looking right at the same semis the entire day. They weren't moving a single inch, and they were just basically, you know, completely -- the throughway was completely dead. They are at a complete standstill.

HARRIS: Hey, Frank, have you been able to get in and out of the office?

RODRIGUEZ: Actually, I spent the majority of the morning cleaning out our parking lot because my car was snowed in. So, luckily, one of my co-workers was able to give me a ride both in and out of the office, so --

HARRIS: OK. So, Frank, tell us about this scene of looking out your window, and you're seeing folks who are stranded, right, can't get anywhere in all of this snow, actually climbing the fence that separates your office and the interstate? And what are they doing?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, it was interesting, because the first group of people that we saw were truckers, and there were guys in just T-shirts that were completely red. They looked like they were frostbitten, or whatever.

So, what had happened was I went outside and I kind of talked them down. And said, "You know, you guys are more than welcome to come into our office and warm up. I know you've only got a T-shirt on." And they were just solely interested in finding food.

The guy told me he was stranded for 16 hours. And so what I did was I pointed him where he can find some food. Right across the street there's a convenience store.

So, he went and got what he needed. And throughout the day, people were climbing the fence, and, you know, people were falling over. People were really struggling.

So what we did was -- actually, I owe some credit to one of my co-workers, Dan Herb (ph). He's the guy who actually went out there in the two-and-a-half feet of snow and set up the two ladders so people could get over that fence and not have to struggle and get caught on it. So, people were, you know, able to get over it, and, you know, go get bags of food and beverages, and bring them back to their car just to hold them over for the time being.

HARRIS: Well, good for you. Good for you and your co-worker for doing that and helping those folks out.

Frank, it's good to talk you to. And the best of luck in all this snow in Buffalo. Good talking to you.

RODRIGUEZ: All right. Thank you very much.

HARRIS: If you were with us yesterday, you heard Buffalo College student Sam McMahon (ph) talking with us on his cell phone about being stuck for 20 hours on the New York state throughway. Well, he made it out, leaving his car and hitching a ride with the fire department.

Everything is OK, but now has got to find a way to get his car towed. And it's an ordeal he says he literally won't forget.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: CNN education contributor Steve Perry is taking on our imperfect education system in a very personal way.

Steve, it's good to see you.

You've got a special airing this weekend on CNN, and in this special, you're not just -- you're not focusing on the teachers. So much of the conversation now is focused on the teachers, but you're going into homes, and you're helping parents set a better environment for their kids where they can do some work.

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: Very often, we blame parents for not supporting the children. But too often, parents don't know what they should do. And we think, because someone has a certain education level, or because they live in a certain community, that they should know.

HARRIS: Yes.

PERRY: We give too many people too much credit for what they should know about parenting, but the fact is, we're all still trying to figure this thing out. Though I'm a principal, I'm a parent as well. And I struggle myself.

So we wanted to go out and visit some families and see what we could do to help them to better understand how they can make their home over to improve their children's education.

HARRIS: So what did you see? I mean, were there a couple of glaring omissions, things that parents could do almost immediately to create a better environment for their kids?

PERRY: Typically, most parents can use a little more structure in the home, meaning that bedtime, study time, study places, just routines. And the Riskoski (ph) family, they wanted some better understanding of how they could establish those, because isn't just what you do, it's how you do it.

HARRIS: Yes. This is a different role for you. You're a principal.

PERRY: Yes.

HARRIS: And working in this kind of an intimate way with families. Were, the families receptive to the ideas?

PERRY: Extremely. They were excited.

And, in fact, Tony, actually, what I really do in my real life, this is what I do. I don't just play a principal on television, I actually am one.

HARRIS: Yes.

PERRY: And what I am, I spend the lion's share of my time dealing with adults who are trying to figure out how to deal with their children.

HARRIS: Right. Right. That's terrific.

So, the special, let's tee it up for everyone so they get an opportunity to watch it this weekend. And it's the "Education Makeover," correct?

PERRY: Yes.

HARRIS: And it is tomorrow at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

PERRY: Yes.

HARRIS: Steve, appreciate it so much.

Did you want to make another point?

PERRY: Yes, with an original theme song by Thorell Williams (ph).

HARRIS: Oh, get out of here. Really?

PERRY: Seriously. Thorell (ph) wrote an original theme song for the "Education Makeover."

HARRIS: That's terrific. Good to see you. Thanks for your time.

PERRY: Nice to see you as well . Thank you. (NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: More than 1.5 million American children are homeschooled, and the numbers are growing, especially among minorities.

In our "What Matters" segment, Fredricka Whitfield looks at two families keeping the learning in the home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOYCE BURGES, NATIONAL BLACK HOME EDUCATORS: I think African- Americans are choosing homeschooling because they are seeing the failure of our traditional school system.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joyce Burges has been homeschooling for nearly 20 years. She started after her oldest son's GPA fell two points.

BURGES: He was sent home one day and told us that we needed to meet with the counselor at his school. We decided at that point that her options that she had given us to retain him in that same grade level or transfer him to another failing school, neither of those choices was something we wanted to do. We decided that we would start teaching him ourselves.

What lesson is this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ninety-two.

WHITFIELD: Burges now teaches her youngest daughter, as well as other students in Louisiana. But much has changed over the two decades she's been homeschooling.

Since 1999, the percentage of children homeschooled in the U.S. has gone up 74 percent. Burges' priority has remained the same, creating a diverse curriculum for the students.

BURGES: The thing that I was missing was that African-American perspective. It is very, very important to teach our children about their heroes like Frederick Douglass and George Washington Carver, Condoleezza Rice.

WHITFIELD: About 10 years ago, the Burgeses started the National Black Home Educators, an organization designed to provide resources to families new to homeschooling.

JOYCE BURGESS: My husband and I began to travel to some of these home school conferences that we were invited to speak at. And we saw maybe one, two African-American families. And we would just ask them, what concerns you most about being an African-American family who home schools? And one of the things that that always came up was our resources and our curriculum. WHITFIELD: Their organization is now global, connecting new and veteran homeschooling families of all races. In 22 U.S. states, Canada and Africa.

The Leak family has been home schooling their children for three years.

VANESSA LEAK, HOMESCHOOLS HER CHILDREN: We considered home schooling because Georgia was not ranked quite high compared to other states as far as school was concerned. And then the school that Constances was zoned to go to, we didn't want her to attend a school that was in danger of losing accreditation.

WHITFIELD: Private school was not an option financially for the Leaks. So, Vanessa teaches their four kids. MBHE is one of many resources they use.

V. LEAK: You'll have 45 seconds to complete this drill. On your mark, get set, go.

JAMES LEAK, FATHER OF HOME SCHOOLED CHILDREN: People value different things, and we felt like investing in our children for the next generation was important.

V. LEAK: That they can impact the economy and the world in a good way.

WHITFIELD: Fredricka Whitfield, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And next week, we'll hear more from the Leaks as well as a child psychologist about the home schooling trend and effects.

And to read more stories that matter to all of us, just pick up the latest issue of "Essence" magazine right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. A lot to get done, a short amount of time. On the ground for the president of the United States in Afghanistan on a surprise visit with troops just ahead of Christmas. The president meeting with ambassador Karl Eikenberry and General David Petraeus. The president is scheduled to have a phone conversation with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. The president visiting the hospital at Bagram Air Force base where he meets with eight patients, five soldiers, three civilian contractors. He will also award four Purple Hearts.

And then at some point, we believe the 1:00 p.m. Eastern hour, the president will speak to the assembled military personnel. And when that begins, we'll of course bring it to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Checking the day's other big stories. The presidential commissions for trillion-dollar debt slashing plan. Draws bipartisan support, but not enough to recommend it to Congress. It needed the support of 14 of 18 members commission members; it only received 11.

So, here are the names of those saying no. Senator Max Bachus of Montana, Representative Xavier Becerra of California, Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. Representative Dave Camp of Michigan. Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

Now, earlier, we asked folks what they are willing to do to cut the deficit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My thoughts are the people make more than $250,000 are the people who hire and the people who fire. And if we start to put the burden of tax on people making over $250,000, that's certainly going to trickle downstream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to take care of middle class. And those making over $250,000 can find places to put money that somebody less than that may not know. And they can afford to support us a little bit more right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My personal preference would be, let go with the budget. Defense budget. And for us to start finding ways to get out of war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe in the military. I support them. They said they need it, they definitely need it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Republicans and THE White House are trying to cut a deal today to stop a tax hike that is coming in just 29 days. That's when Bush-era tax rates expire. I talked to our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash at the Capitol who framed the deal that seems to be taking shape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm told by Republican and Democratic sources that what's in the works is extending all tax rates for all income levels for about two years. Maybe three, but probably two, that that is sort of the gist of something that is in the works. In fact, one source said to me, "The goose is cooked on that."

The larger question, particularly that's coming from Democrats, because they believe that is a big concession, is what are they going to get for that? And they have a whole long list, wish list, if you will. Unemployment benefits, that is sort front and center. They want to extend those, I'm told, maybe even as long as 13 months.

Also, to do some of the tax credits that don't have that much of a spotlight on them, but are also expiring. Make work tax credit, the college tuition tax credit, things like that the Democrats are really pushing to get this into this, what they hope will be a larger package that will be part of this deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. The U.S. is demanding the release of an American contractor held in Cuba for a year now. We will get an update from Havana.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: One year ago today, Cuba jailed American contractor Alan Gross, accusing him of being a spy. Gross still hasn't been charged with anything. Yesterday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley urged Cuba once again to free Gross.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

P.J. CROWLEY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We've repeatedly called on the government of Cuba to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Gross, who has been held all this time without charge. We will continue to use all available channels to urge the Cuban government to show humanitarian compassion and put an end to Mr. Gross's long and unjustifiable ordeal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: CNN's Shasta Darlington, live now from Havana. And Shasta, who is Alan Gross and what is this all about?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, it really depends who you ask. We know that Alan Gross was here working on a project for USAID. Now, the State Department says he was trying to help local Jewish communities connect to the Internet. Cuba said he was fine. Saying he was distributing illegal satellite equipment to dissidents.

And there's probably a bit of truth to both versions. And that's because if you use satellite equipment to connect to the Internet but it's not authorized, it's illegal. On top of that, the USAID has as its stated goal, regime change. Well, that's also illegal in Cuba.

So, what we're finding here is that Alan Gross sort of got caught between these warring governments. And he may not have been aware of some of the risks he was taking. But at this point he's turned into a stumbling block in relations between U.S. and Cuba. On the one hand, Washington says it can't take it forward until Alan Gross is released. And on the other hand, we've got his wife, Judy Gross, saying that he's been in jail for the year, lost 90 pounds. That his daughter is suffering from breast cancer, and he can't see her. Judy Gross had been allowed to Cuba to visit him. At this point, Cuban officials are saying there's still isn't even a trial date, Tony.

HARRIS: Well, charge him first!

Okay, Shasta, this case is just one piece obviously of U.S.-Cuban relationship. More generally speaking, where do things stand now? DARLINGTON: Well, that's right, Tony. And if you'll think back almost two years ago, it really looked like things are on the mend. One of the first things President Barack Obama did when he took office was lift travel restrictions on Cuban Americans. And as recently as last year, he said more measures could follow if Cuba began to release its political prisoners and opened up its economy.

Well, guess what? This year, they started to do just that in July. Cuba began its biggest release of political prisoners in more than a decade. It's also announced that it's going to reshape its economy. They're going to open it up to private enterprise.

And, well, we haven't seen any new measures from Washington despite these changes. What analysts say is that it's because of domestic politics. And as we know, Republicans have gained a lot more control. They'll be taking over Congress next year. And with them in power, they say it's really hard for either the president or Congress to take any more measures. On top of that, this Alan Gross case is a big obstacle, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. CNN's Shasta Darlington for us from Havana, Cuba. Shasta, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thanks.

One senator calls out another over "don't ask, don't tell." We bring in Wolf Blitzer and The Best Political Team on Television right after the break. Good to see you, Wolf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, the president in Afghanistan. Wolf Blitzer steps out of "The Situation Room" for a live update from the political desk in Washington.

Wolf, great to see you, as always. Let's start with the president in Afghanistan. That has to be topping the Political Ticker.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": It's obviously a huge development whenever the president goes to the war zone. This is the second time he's been to Afghanistan as president of the United States.

Here's what's worrying -- worrisome to me, Tony, and I'm sure it is to you and a lot of our viewers as well. Nine years into this war, the president of the United States, despite all of the blood and treasure, despite all of the enormous efforment (ph) to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, he still can't even fly to the capital of Kabul with an announcement in advance that he wants to go visit Afghanistan, meet with the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.

HARRIS: Great point.

BLITZER: It all has to be top secret. It's so dangerous for Air Force One to fly into Afghanistan with any advance warning. And the same with Iraq, by the way. Right now the president can't simply tell us, you know what, next week we're going to go to Iraq or Afghanistan. And it raises all sorts of questions about the, you know, the state of this war effort that's been going on for year after year after year when the president of the United States can't even go there without doing it in top secret. Just a point of concern for me and I'm sure to you and to a lot of our viewers as well. We wish him, of course, success. And we're standing by to hear from him. He's going to be addressing troops.

I'm sure the president is frustrated. He's not going to apparently be able to meet face to face with Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, because of some weather related issues that have come up. They're going to speak on the phone. He could have spoken on the phone with him from the situation room over at the White House too. They could have had a secure line. They could have done a little video conferencing. Didn't have to fly all the way to Afghanistan to speak with him on the phone. So I'm sure that's a source of some frustration as well.

HARRIS: Oh, yes.

BLITZER: Let's hope that within the next year or so a president can go to Afghanistan without having to worry about the security issue and that they could let us know in advance that he's going.

HARRIS: Well said.

BLITZER: That would be encouraging.

We have time, Tony, from some other Political Tickers we've been working on?

HARRIS: Absolutely. Yes, take as much time as you want, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, let's talk a little bit about the key issue right now here in Washington, jobs, jobs, jobs. Obviously the economic numbers, the unemployment numbers going up from 9.6 percent to 9.8 percent were very discouraging today. Certainly discouraging for the people who were looking for jobs and there are 15 million unemployed Americans right now.

And it doesn't even speak, Tony, to all of those millions of Americans --

HARRIS: Underemployed.

BLITZER: Who have had to settle for lesser job. They're underemployed. You know, a man or a woman let's say a few years ago was making $80,000 a year with a family and all of a sudden loses the job and now is struggling with a job maybe for $35,000 or $40,000 a year. They have a job and they're grateful they have a job, but it's certainly not the same as having the job they used to have.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

BLITZER: They simply can't find that job. But they're working at a lot less money. And there are a lot of people, unfortunately, in that situation right now.

We're all over this and we'll have extensive coverage, as you know, in "The Situation Room" at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: Love it. Love it. Great to see you as always. Wolf, appreciate it so much. Thank you, sir.

And you next political update coming in one hour. For the latest political news, just go to cnnpolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Donna Rosato, she's a senior write with "Money," And Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, she's a columnist for walletpop.com.

All right, ladies, glad you're here.

First question comes to us from Kris who writes, "I'm 58 and want the best strategy to retire when I'm 65. I have a regular 401(k) and asked my tax accountant about a Roth. He believes people don't need a Roth because when they retire, they'll be in a lower tax bracket since they're not working. Is he missing some important considerations?"

What do you think, Donna?

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY": Well, you know, your accountant is right that if you're going to have a Roth, it makes most sense if you're going to be in a lower tax bracket. And normally when you retire, your taxes go down.

But we all know we have massive federal deficits and many economists believe that interest rates are going to go up, taxes are going to go up. So for -- does it make more sense to have a Roth IRA? Here's what you really need to consider. Look at your own personal tax situation. Is your tax rate going to be lower? And if you're not sure, because who really knows what's going to happen with our taxes. A good idea is to hedge your bets. With a Roth you can withdraw money from a Roth tax free. Put a portion of your retirement savings in a Roth and then you don't have to worry about it.

ELAM: And this just helps her out moving forward.

All right, our next question comes to us from Pam who writes, "I'm in the process of updating my credit report and there were some creditors on my report longer than 10 years. I thought those could be purged, specifically the credit card accounts. Is this correct?"

What do you say, Lynnette?

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, WALLETPOP.COM: It is correct that some information can last on your credit report for up to 10 years. It depends on whether it's positive or negative information. If it's positive information about those credit card accounts, don't worry about it. You want it to be there. And, in fact, even after you pay the accounts off, it can still exist on the account for seven, up to 10 years or so. If it's negative information, of course that's what you need to be concerned about. Negative information can stay on your report for seven years from the date of the occurrence. If it's a bankruptcy, like a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that can last for 10 years after the date of filing. Any negative information that is outdated, inaccurate or that can't be verified can be deleted from your credit report per the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Just ask one of the credit bureau to delete it or update it if you find that that's the case.

ELAM: And that's what you have to do. You have to make sure you're checking on it.

Well, ladies, thanks so much for the good information.

And if you have a question you want to get answered, go ahead and send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: If you are clicking on it and posting about it, we are, of course, tracking it for you. Here is what's trending online right now. The WikiLeaks story, one of the most popular topics all over the web. Of particular interest, the new home of WikiLeaks files. A Cold War bunker inside a mountain that's been described as fit for a James Bond movie. Amazon dumped the site from its servers Wednesday. A company called Banhoth (ph) is hosting WikiLeaks from a literal cave inside White Mountain near Stockholm. According to reports from "Forbes," AP and the Norwegian news site VG Net.

OK. Here's the headline, "New York presser installs camera in head." It is one of the most popular stories on cnn.com today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAFA BILAL, NEW YORK UNIV. PHOTOGRAPHY PROFESSOR: They lift the skin, they make the incision, lift the skin and they drop them, one by one, in exact location after making a hole. That they come out of the hole and the base stays underneath the skin, between the skin and the skull.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The professor said the camera is taking snapshots every minute of his every day activities for a year. Why? Why? Well, it seems it's for an art project commissioned by a museum in Doha, Qatar, that opens next year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And once again we are standing by waiting for the president's remarks from Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. The president making a surprise visit to Afghanistan. He had hoped to meet face-to-face with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. That's not going to happen because of technical problem. But more importantly because of bad weather in the area. Dust storms and high winds. So the two men had a conversation on the phone. As you know, there is a full review of the Afghanistan policy going on right now. That review to be completed in the next few weeks. When the president begins his remarks, we will, of course, bring them to you.