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President Obama New Jobs Push; Rep. Giffords Headed to Houston; Patty Krenwinkle Denied Parole; Chinese Teens in the Economic Boom; Obama Hires Jeff Immelt of GE To Advisory Board
Aired January 21, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, thank you. You have a great afternoon and a great weekend.
Right now, I'm going to take you to live pictures. Carol was talking about them. That is Jeff Immelt. He is the CEO of General Electric. He's just been put in charge of a big job by the President of the United States. The President is going to talk about jobs and the economy, and we will bring you more on this in a couple of minutes. Before we get to him, let me check on a couple of other stories we are following right now.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on the move. Leaving the city, she was shot and saved, to begin rehab. Her ambulance left the University Medical Center in Tucson, surrounded by police cars as well wishers waved from the sidelines. The next leg is a quick flight to Houston.
The Congresswoman's plan took off about 45 minutes ago. It's expected to land in Texas in the next hour. A medical chopper will air lift her from Houston Hobby Air Force to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where doctors will assess her conditions and starting planning months of physical and occupational therapy.
Tomorrow marks two weeks since the shooting spree that wounded Giffords and twelve other and left six people dead.
Her thirteenth chance for parole, not Patty Krenwinkle's number. She spent 40 years in prison for her role in the Manson families murder spree. And she will spend, at least, seven more with the California Parole Board, again, denying her release. Her next parole review is in 2018.
The economic recovery advisory board, well let's go 2008, let's scratch that out. The President's changed the name to the President's Council On Jobs And Competitiveness. That's a little more keeping with the time.
As the great recession fades into history, at least on paper, 2012 grows nearer. The White House is shifting from economic damage control with Paul Volcker, the man whose picture you see shaded out there, and yes, into job creation and hope. And that's the man in the front. You just saw him talking in Schenectady, New York. That's is Jeff Immelt. He's speaking right now. That is the birthplace of General Electric. He is shaking hands with the President.
Let's listen in to the President of the United States.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Schenectady. It is -- it is good to be in New York.
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Now, let me -- let me just begin, if I'm not mistaken, Governor Cuomo, who is going to be an outstanding governor --
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-- he tried to give me a Jets hat. I -- I had to refuse it. I had Secret Service confiscate it.
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But I will say both the Jets and the Bears, I think, are slight underdogs. So we're going to be rootin' for the underdogs on Sunday.
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In addition to Governor Cuomo, I just want to acknowledge Lieutenant Governor Bob Duffy is here.
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Two great friends of mine and great champions for New York and the United States Senate, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are here.
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Members of the congressional delegation from up this way, Paul Tonko --
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-- Chris Gibson --
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-- and Richard Hanna are all here.
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Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is here.
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The outstanding mayor of Schenectady, who flew up with me, because we had an event down in the White House for mayors, and he was on Marine One, and Air Force One, and he was -- he looked like he was having a pretty good time --
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-- Brian Stratton is here.
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And from Albany, Mayor Jerry Jennings is here.
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Thank you.
Now, Jeff, thank you for the outstanding introduction. And thank you, G.E. It is great to be here.
I just had a chance to see some of the high-tech steam turbines and all kinds of fancy stuff that's being made here, being manufactured here at this plant. And it is unbelievably impressive.
And it's part of a proud tradition, because G.E. has been producing turbines and generators here in Schenectady for more than a century.
Now, a lot has changed since those early days. We've seen technologies transform the ways we work and the ways we communicate with each other. We've seen our economy transformed by rising competition from around the globe.
And over the years, in the wake of these shifts, upstate New York and places like it have seen more than their fair share of hard times.
But what has never changed -- we see it right here at this plant; we see it right here at G.E. -- is that America is still home to the most creative and most innovative businesses in the world.
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We've got the most productive workers in the world.
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America's home to inventors and dreamers and builders and creators.
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All of your represent people who each and every day are pioneering the technologies and discoveries that not only improve our lives, but they drive our economy.
Across the country there are entrepreneurs opening businesses, the researchers testing new medical treatments; there're engineers pushing the limits of design and the programmers pouring over lines of code. And there are workers like you on assembly lines and -- all across the country, eager to create some of the best products the world has ever seen.
There're students training to take new jobs by their side.
In this community, G.E. is building one of the world's most sophisticated manufacturing facilities to produce state-of-the-art batteries.
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Last year, you opened the headquarters of your renewable energy operations and you created 650 jobs on this campus.
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So our challenge, especially as we continue to fight our way back from the worst recession in our lifetimes, is to harness this spirit, to harness this potential, the potential that all of you represent. Our challenge is to do everything we can to make it easier for folks to bring products to market and to start and expand new businesses, and to grow and hire new workers.
I want plants like this all across America. You guys are a model of what's possible. And that's why, as part of the tax cut compromise that I signed at the end of the year, we provided incentives for businesses to make new capital investments. And in fact, G.E. is investing $13 million in advanced manufacturing at this plant, taking advantage of some of these tax breaks.
We also extended a program that G.E. says its customers have used to invest $6 billion in clean energy production across this country, driving demand for the company's wind turbines. And I saw one of those big turbines on the way in.
So we know we can compete, not just in the industries of the past, but also in the industries of the future. But in an ever- shrinking world, our success in these efforts will be determined not only by what we build in Schnectady, but also what we can sell in Shanghai. For America to compete around the world, we need to export more goods around the world.
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That's where the customers are. It's that simple.
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And as I was -- as I was walking through the plant, you guys had put up some handy signs so I knew what I was looking at.
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And I noticed on all of them, they said, you know, "this is going to Kuwait; this is going to India; this is going to Saudi Arabia." That's where the customers are, and we want to sell them products made here in America.
That's why I met with Chinese leaders this week, and Jeff joined me at the state dinner. During these meetings, we struck a deal to open Chinese markets to our products. They're selling here, and that's fine, but we want to sell there. We want to open up their markets so that we got two-way trade, not just one-way trade.
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Now, the deals we've struck are going to mean more than $45 billion in new business for American companies -- $45 billion. That translates into 235,000 new jobs for American workers.
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And that's also why I fought hard to negotiate a new trade deal with South Korea that will support more than 70,000 American jobs. That's why I traveled to India a few months ago -- and Jeff was there with us -- where our businesses were able to reach agreement to export $10 billion in goods and services to India. And that's going to lead to another 50,000 jobs here in the United States.
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Part of the reason I wanted to come to this plant is because this plant is what that trip was all about. As part of the deal we struck in India, G.E. is going to sell advanced turbines -- the ones you guys make -- to generate power at a plant in Samalkot, India -- Samalkot, India.
Most of you hadn't heard of Samalkot.
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But now you need to know about it, because you're going to be selling to Samalkot, India. And that new business, halfway around the world, is going to help support more than 1,200 manufacturing jobs and more than 400 engineering jobs, right here in this community, because of that sale.
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So it's a perfect example of why promoting exports is so important. That's why I've set a goal of doubling American exports within five years. And we're on track to do it. We're already up 18 percent, and we're just going to keep on going, because we're going to sell more and more stuff all around the world.
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When companies sell products overseas, it leads to hiring on our shores. The deal in Samalkot means jobs in Schenectady. That's how we accelerate growth, that's how we create opportunities for our people.
This is how we go from an economy that was powered by what we borrow and what we consume -- that's what happened over the last 10 years. What was driving our economy was we were spending a lot on credit cards. Everybody was borrowing a lot. The Chinese were selling a lot to us. Folks were selling a lot to us from all over the world. We've got to reverse that. We want an economy that is fueled by what we invent and what we build.
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We're going back to Thomas Edison's principles. We're going to build stuff and invent stuff.
Now, nobody understands this better than Jeff Immelt. He understands what it takes for America to compete in the global economy.
As he mentioned, I have appreciated his wisdom during these past two years. We had a difficult, difficult crisis on our hands. It was a few days after I took office that I assembled a group of business leaders, including Jeff, to form a new advisory board.
Because at that time the economy as in a free fall and we were facing the prospects of another Great Depression, with ripple effects all around the world. It wasn't just the United States. The entire world economy was contracting. And such -- at such a dangerous moment it was essential that we heard voices and ideas from business leaders and from experts who weren't part of the usual Washington crowd.
And I tasked Jeff and the other advisers with one mission: Help to steer our nation from deep recession into recovery. Help take the economy from one that's shrinking to one that's growing. And over the past two years, I've been -- I've been very grateful for their advice.
And I especially want to commend the man who chaired the panel, one of the nation's preeminent economists, the former head of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, because he offered unvarnished advice and he wasn't afraid to counter the conventional wisdom. He did a great service to this country.
In fact, it was six months ago today that I signed into law a set of financial reforms to protect consumers and to prevent future financial crises, and put an end to taxpayer-funded bailouts. And that's an achievement in which Paul Volcker was instrumental.
So we're very proud of him for that work.
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Now, two years later, though, we're in a different place.
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Now, two years later, though, we're in a different place. In part because of the economic plan that my Recovery Board helped shape, the economy's now growing again. Over the last year businesses have added more than a million jobs, the pace of hiring and growth is picking up, and that's encouraging news.
But at the same time, while businesses are adding jobs, millions of people are still out there looking for work. And even here in Schenectady, as well as G.E.'s doing, I know everybody here knows a neighbor, a friend, a relative who's still out of work.
So it's not -- it's a great thing that the economy's growing, but it's not growing fast enough yet to make up for the damage that was done by the recession.
The past two years were about pulling our economy back from the brink. The next two years, our job now, is putting our economy into overdrive. Our job is to do everything we can to ensure that businesses can take root and folks can find good jobs and America is leading the global competition that will determine our success in the 21st century.
And so now, to help fulfill this new mission, I'm assembling a new group of business leaders and outside advisers. And I am so proud and pleased that Jeff has agreed to chair this panel, my Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, 'cause we think G.E. has something to teach businesses all across America.
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I hope you don't mind, I'm going to brag about your boss for a second here. Jeff's somebody who brings a wealth of experience to the table. He is one of the nation's most respected and admired business leaders, and that's a reputation he earned over 10 years at the helm of this company.
In the coming days we'll be announcing the business leaders, the labor leaders, the economists and others who will join with Jeff to help guide us into that overdrive mode.
I know this council will be an important asset as we seek to do everything we can to spur hiring and ensure our nation can compete with anybody on the planet.
That means spurring innovation in growing industries like clean energy manufacturing -- the kind of stuff that's being done right here at this plant; ensuring our economy isn't held back by crumbling roads and broken-down infrastructure. It means educating and training our people.
You know, I just had a chance to meet one of the guys here at the plant who had been trained at Hudson Valley, which I had an opportunity to visit a while back. And that's an example of the kind of partnerships that we've got to duplicate all across the country. Schenectady offers that kind of example.
You know, Hudson Valley Community College created a program so students could earn a paycheck and have their tuition covered while training for jobs at this plant. That's helping folks find good work. It's helping G.E. fill high-skill positions. It's making this whole region more competitive.
So ultimately, winning this global competition comes down to living up to the promise of places like this. Here in Schenectady, you're heirs to a great tradition of innovation and enterprise, the pioneering work of Edison that made the entire modern age possible; the tungsten filaments that still light our homes; the X-rays that diagnose disease. Now, the advance batteries and renewable energy sources that hold so much promise for the future.
In these pioneering efforts, we see what America is all about. We see what has in our past allowed us to not only weather rough storms, but reach brighter days. And it's got to remind us that we've got those same strengths. This is America. We still have that spirit of innovation and that sense of optimism, that belief that if we work hard and we give it our all, that anything is possible in this country.
The future belongs to us. And you at this plant, you are showing us the way forward.
So thank you so much, everybody. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.
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VELSHI: That's the president of the United States. He is shaking hands now with Jeff Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, at the birthplace of the company in Schenectady, New York. We have a lot of coverage of what he has done. This isn't just a speech about the economy. The president has just put Jeff Immelt in charge of a commission on competitiveness and jobs. He is looking to the head of one of America's greatest industries to try and get this economy kick- started.
I want to take a quick break and we're going to talk to Allan Chernoff, who was not only there, but has had a chance to talk to Jeff Immelt about exactly what he plans to do to create more jobs in America. Poppy Harlow is going to tell us a bit about what his chances are.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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VELSHI: OK. Some big news we're covering. You just heard the president speaking at Schenectady in upstate New York. He had just introduced Jeff Immelt. Jeff Immelt is the CEO of General Electric. He has had the president's ear for some time now. You heard the president talking about how many trips they've taken together.
Immelt is a member of the old recovery panel. The Economic Recovery Advisory Board. What a name. Back in November, he traveled with the president to India. In the process, he sold the Indians $750 million worth of GE turbines to be built at the plant that they are at today in Schenectady, New York. Immelt also was among the CEOs to meet and dine with the visiting president of China this week at the White House.
Now, for the most part, Americans share the view that things are getting better, if very slowly, in this economy, even when it comes to jobs. Look at this. A new CNN/Opinion Research Poll shows that 24 percent of us consider economic conditions -- it's going to show up for you in a minute -- consider economic conditions to be good, 40 percent say somewhat poor, 35 percent say very poor. But the good number is up from November. The very poor number, as you can see, is down from November.
Now, the real optimists are out west. Look at the regional breakdown. Every part of this country shows a drop in respondents who consider the economy in very poor shape. In the northeast, though, and in the Midwest, you can see that the drop is pretty small. In the west, the number of people, look at that, who thought the economy was very poor was at 50 percent in November. It's 28 percent now.
All right, let's talk a little about what the president is trying to do and what Jeff Immelt's role in this can be. We've got Poppy Harlow with us. She's in New York at CNN Money, and we've got Allan Chernoff, who was at -- who is in Schenectady and had a chance to speak with Jeff Immelt this morning.
Poppy, let's start with you.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Sure.
VELSHI: Very interesting because General Electric, certainly one of the most innovative companies in America's history. It has a piece in all sorts of businesses. It's not just lighting.
HARLOW: Right.
VELSHI: It's airplanes and it's finance. It is a big manufacturing company as well.
HARLOW: Yes.
VELSHI: We have -- where we have seen most of the jobs lost in this economy. Tell me what sense this makes?
HARLOW: Well, sure.
Jeff Immelt is the head of an iconic American company. We all know General Electric. We probably have their products. He's headed that company very successfully, Ali, through the last decade. They've had their troubles, as have most companies through the crisis. But he wrote an op-ed in "The Washington Post" and he really outlined what he wants to do.
First of all, he talked about the 6,000 manufacturing jobs that GE has created, even in the midst of the crisis and the jobs crisis. But let's get to who this man is, all right. Jeff Immelt is a leader. He is an executive. He deals with hiring constantly. But what he is not, Ali, is he's not a banker. OK. He's not tied to Wall Street. And that's really critical here. I've talked to heads of big banks who know the president and have said, you can't have a banker in the White House in the president's economic circle. And let's not forget, we saw Christina Romer and also Larry Summers, two economic advisors to the president, leave in the last few months. So the president has to replace those people. Immelt is not taking their job, but what the president is doing here, very strategically, is putting a captain of American industry, someone that is a business leader, into his inner circle here. He's communicating to business leaders around the world with this move saying, I am with you. I am not against you. I mean after the Democrats lost the midterm elections, the day after the president admitted, need to do a better job of communicating with businesses, putting us on the same page and saying the only way America succeeds is if businesses succeed. Jeff Immelt is his first real way of doing this and he's a figurehead.
And in that op-ed that Jeff Immelt wrote this morning, Ali, he said this. He said, "erecting trade barriers is exactly wrong." So what he's saying is, we want to sell our goods to China, to India, across the world, and we want to buy their goods. So what he's saying, and you heard the president reiterate it today, saying we want two-way trade, not one-way trade. Is it, we're not going to have tariffs, we're not going to have trade barriers. A lot of Americans are calling for that right now, saying why don't we tax what China imports and therefore we're going to -- we'll buy from the U.S. instead. He's saying that's not the way. So he's clearly outlining that he is going to work closely with China, closely elsewhere.
Ali.
VELSHI: OK, that's the why.
Allan Chernoff, how is Jeff Immelt going to do this? What does putting the right guy with the right experience and the right face actually mean on the ground to my viewers out there to say, how does this create a job in America?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, it doesn't instantly create a job in America, but what Jeff Immelt has been able to do here at General Electric is, he has been able to export. GE is a huge, huge exporter, and that's the reason that the president is actually at this very factory. Ninety percent of the steam turbines that are manufactured here, and the generators, are shipped overseas. That's 90 percent. Immelt told me, that's where the jobs are going to come from. What we have to do as a country is to export. And even the president just said, he wants to double the nation's exports within five years. Well, Immelt has been doing a lot of that over here at General Electric, and he's hoping that he can encourage that at other companies as well.
Now, another important aspect to all of this, of course, is, you've got to make stuff to export. And a lot of people have argued, hey, you know, manufacturing is just dead in the water here in the United States. Well, I discussed that with Immelt and he told me he believes manufacturing by no means is dead here.
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JEFF IMMELT, CHAIRMAN & CEO, GENERAL ELECTRIC: We're one of the country's biggest exporters. We have great manufacturing people. The fact is, in the high-tech products we make, it's mainly material content, labor content is lower. So our guys can compete, our people can compete with anybody in the world. So I think our markets are export markets, that's going to drive manufacturing.
We're coming out of a difficult economic time period, number one. Number two, American business is more productive today than it's ever been and that has had an impact on overall employment. But the most important part is, we've got to invest and we've got to drive exports. You know, 95 percent of the world's population is outside of the United States. Ultimately, to create manufacturing jobs, we've got to be innovating and we've got to be exporting.
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CHERNOFF: OK. Now, let's piece apart what Immelt was just talking about. He said that material costs are the most important costs of the products that they're making here. And, of course, that's the case for these massive steam turbines and generators that create electricity in power plants. OK. So, you can export that stuff because you can still pay the workers a very good wage and you can compete internationally.
But let's think about manufacturing of items where labor comprises the main cost, OK. There it is much, much, much more difficult for Americans to compete overseas. And, Ali, that's going to be a big, big challenge for a lot of companies if we are going to export, increase our exports all around the world.
VELSHI: Yes. Steam turbines make sense, light bulbs are harder because the labor is a bigger cost of a light bulb than it is of a steam turbine. Very good point.
Allan, thanks very much for your great reporting on this.
Poppy, as always, thanks to you. You can watch Poppy's stuff on money.com. And you can watch all of the -- both of these two fine folks right here on CNN. Be sure to turn in to "Your Bottom Line" Saturday mornings at 9:30 Eastern with Christine. And "YOUR $$$$$" airs Saturday's at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.
Well, many of you think of it as the American dream, the idea that hard work and opportunity can lift you out of the economic situation that you were born into. Well it may be alive and well in China.
More on that after the break.
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VELSHI: OK. This week we have talked a lot about China's business success, but my next guest, a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang, is joining me now to talk about teenagers growing up in China's fast-moving economy.
When I read about this, this made me think about what you think of as the American dream, that sort of ethos. He is currently in production on a documentary looking at young Chinese teens in search of fame in amateur boxing, but his last film got a lot of news. Called "Up the Yangtze," it documented the social changes for families that was brought on by the Three Gorges Dam Project, a construction project that displaced over a million people.
Yung, thank you for joining us.
YUNG CHANG, DIRECTOR, "UP THE YANGTZE": Thanks for having me.
VELSHI: For my viewers who don't remember, the Three Gorges Project, that was such a big part of China's emerging economy. It was something that China did to generate energy, but tell us some of the bad side of it.
CHANG: Well, I mean looking at it from the human perspective, the displacement of millions of people and surrounding that issue including corruption in terms of compensation, I mean, it was rife with many, many issues.
And certainly when I was there working on this film "Up the Yangtze," the focus on the human voice on some of these individuals being directly affected by the dam, it was very stark from a basic level of survival. It -- I think using this prism, this microcosm of the Three Gorges Dam and the Yangtze River to zoom in and focus on the human story was very emotional for me (ph) (INAUDIBLE).
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VELSHI: All right, so let me ask you one that really brought to mind maybe a hardscrabble kid in the '20s in the U.S. trying to make a buck where opportunity was growing. You have a story, for instance, of a girl whose parents either didn't want to send her to school, couldn't afford to even if they wanted to. So she takes a job dealing with American tourists.
Tell me what happened there.
CHANG: Well, essentially, her home is going to be flooded by the Three Gorges Dam, and in order to support the family in that sort of Confusion Valley, she has to go and leave the cruise ship, as the eldest daughter -- I'm sorry, to leave her family home, and to go to support the family by working on this ironically, a luxury cruise ship that serves international tourists traveling up and down the Yangtze Sea known as the Farewell Cruise documenting the disappearance of the river.
VELSHI: And in fact, she makes good money doing it?
CHANG: She does. And I mean, as a young girl pursuing dreams of success and, you know, being surrounded by materialism and changes in the Chinese society in that respect, certainly, she, I mean, the money she makes on average, she was making triple the income of her father in one month that he would make in one year.
VELSHI: OK. Tell me this then --
CHANG: Approximately $200 U.S. VELSHI: Tell me this then, is there some sense that in a communist totalitarian regime where generally speaking, historically, the average Chinese person would die largely in the same economic rung that they were born, has all of the success in China caused people to be more ambitious and to do something more like what we think of as the American dream? Go out there and try to hustle for more money and success.
CHANG: I think that the notion of the American dream can be transported directly into the country of China right now. I think, you know, peasants can become millionaires, as they say. And I think many of the youth in China and including young adults are driven by a certain ambition to survive, to better their livelihoods. It's not uncommon and I would say that it is -- it is sort of driving society right now in China.
A colleague of mine, the filmmaker Lixin Fan, made a film "Last Train Home." This film documenting migrant workers in southern China. And certainly, what comes out of the film as well as that "Up the Yangtze," is that China is currently the, you know, the world's factory and migrant workers are the backbone of society right now. They are making the clothing that we are wearing today, you know.
And certainly from that perspective, it's very difficult to argue against the idea that how can someone like a 16-year-old girl, Ushway (ph), how could she not want to pursue her dreams, how could she not want to better her life by pursuing a job on a cruise ship for example.
VELSHI: yang, thanks for joining us. Great to talk to you, get a little more perspective on what goes in China that we talk so much about.
CHANG: Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: President Obama is in upstate New York today talking about jobs and by the way, China, it comes up in every conversations he has these days. He toured the GE plant in Schenectady with GE's CEO Jeff Immelt, the same Immelt that will chair the White House Economic Group.
Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, joins me form the White House.
Ed, you have some behind the scenes scoop about what this is all about.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, look, this is part of a narrative they are trying to build here at the White House. You know, you put Jeff Immelt in charge of this panel, talk about creating jobs, you think about the visit this week with the Chinese president and this president was all about salesman in chief, we want to sell you planes, we want to sell you cars, you know, all about the trade, something that he did not talk about so much in the first two years. And that's because building up to the State of the Union Tuesday night, when he's going to address millions of Americans, aides say the message is really going to have twin themes. It's going to be all about creating jobs and promoting America competitiveness around the world.
And so look, especially with Bill Daley as the new chief of staff, a former business guy, they clearly have gotten the message that they are going to fine tune this. The first two years, there were a lot of issues flying around, some of their own making, some that got thrown in their lap, but the next two years are going to be all about jobs and competitiveness. That's the bottom line.
VELSHI: OK, so here is a guy from the world of business, Bill Daley, the new chief of staff, a man from the world of business and politics. You have a big piece on CNN.com shedding some light on Bill Daley.
HENRY: Yes, well, we did a kind of power profile of him, we call it "The Sweep." And it's interesting because -- it's up there right now -- and I went back and talked to people from his past, including from that 2000 campaign. You'll remember, he was the Gore campaign chairman, had to come out in the middle of the night and say, look this is not done yet, the campaign continues.
I talked to one of his former colleagues, Don Bear (ph), who was telling me he was in the car with Bill Daley the morning of that election and they were going through all these scenarios at 06:30 in the morning about what might happen on election night. And Daley basically turned to Don Bear and he says -- he told him, I'm getting too old for this.
And fast forward now, he was 51 at that time, he's 62 now. And one of his friends just told me they were having dinner and Bill Daley just said basically the same thing, I am getting too old for this, but he keeps on taking on these tasks.
Now at the age of 62, he's got to deal with trying to fix the economy, trying to fend off Republicans who want to tear down health care reform, you know, bill and other things and he's got to deal with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And oh, by the way, he's got to get the president ready for reelection in 2012.
This is someone whose got an enormous task ahead of him. When you look at his past, he's pretty well prepared and brings a lot to the table for this president.
VELSHI: Yes, it probably doesn't hurt that he's got a few more pro-business friends in the White House right now.
But off to something else, some bigger business than what he's got to deal with. The president going to be watching football?
VELSHI: Yes, you know, Robert Gibbs says that the president is going to invite some friends over, maybe even some lawmakers this weekend to watch the Bears against the Packers. I know your executive producer may have a thought on that, maybe a Green Bay fan. The president, of course, is a Chicago Bears' fan and is going to be rooting for them. And in fact, he told us a couple days ago that if the Bears make it to the Super Bowl, he is going to Dallas for the game. First time in a long time that a president will be at a Super Bowl.
So we'll see if the Bears can follow it up. And you may have heard that little quip he had at the beginning of that event there in upstate New York where he said that Governor Cuomo wanted to give him a Jets' cap and the Secret Service confiscated it. So -- I think that he was joking. I'm pretty sure he was joking.
VELSHI: Yes, he likes to wage those sports conflicts.
HENRY: It gets a little dangerous sometimes, yes.
VELSHI: Ed, good to see you. Thanks very much.
HENRY: Have a good weekend, Ali.
VELSHI: Ed Henry, White House correspondent, with "The Stakeout." Read his note on -- his article on CNN.com on Bill Daley.
OK, from Tucson to Texas, we are watching the flight carrying Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to Houston for the next phase of her recovery. That's the flight taking off from Tucson. We've got a live update next.
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VELSHI: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is on her way to Houston. That's the plane carrying her. It left Tucson about an hour ago. We're tracking her flight as she heads to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, that's where the next phase of her recovery will take place after a gunman shot her, as you know, in the head nearly two weeks ago. It'll be two weeks tomorrow.
Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, has been following the day's developments and she joins me now from Houston -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali, it really is going to be an incredible moment when she lands here. The doctors here have been talking to the doctors in Arizona by e-mail, by phone. They'll meet her trauma surgeon from Arizona as he comes off of the plane with Representative Giffords.
She is scheduled to land pretty soon, within the next half hour or so, and then the hospital folks are going to have a press conference shortly thereafter to tell us how she is doing.
VELSHI: Elizabeth, what -- how much of what is going on right now is sort of just going to work out as expected? I mean, is there anything that we have to be concerned about in terms of her getting onto that plane, the plane having taking off and when she lands, or is this all sort of scripted out and it's all going to work properly?
COHEN: Well, nothing in medicine, especially with a bullet wound to the brain, is ever really scripted out, Ali. I mean, it all just sort of, you never know in some ways what's going to happen. But of course they have dealt with hundreds of thousands of cases like hers.
So, they said the first thing they're going to do is make sure she did well during the transport. They want to look out for the big issues first. Are there any infections they need to look at? Does she have any swelling around her brain? I'm sure they will do imagining and other tests to make sure she did well during that transport.
And then their next goal is to get her healthy enough to get ready for rehabilitation. We had been originally told she was going straight into rehab. Then later, we were told that wasn't true, that she was actually wasn't ready. I spoke to her neurosurgeon, Dr. Kim yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Now, why isn't she going right into the rehabilitation?
DR. DONG H. KIM, CHIEF OF NEUROSURGERY, MEMORIAL HERMANN HOSPITAL: Well, there are concerns about ongoing medical issues. And again, I don't want to be more specific about that. But she is not quite ready for rehabilitation yet, so we are going to be coming here, doing a thorough assessment, and once we have been able to do that, we will be able to tell you more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: You know, rehab, Ali, is really hard work. You have to learn how to walk again and learn how to dress yourself. I mean, everything, really as if you were a child. And what I heard Dr. Kim saying was she is not quite ready for that work yet. We need to make sure that she is really, truly medically stable. Ali?
VELSHI: And you have talked to somebody who we've talked about, a police officer who had similar wound in the head who has made quite a remarkable recovery. In fact, to the casual eye, his ability to move and talk seemed entirely normal.
COHEN: Right. It wasn't entirely normal, but this gentleman was shot in the head and very similar kind of bullet path to what the representative had. And now, three years later, he walks, and walks with a limp. He cannot run. He is weak on one side. But he is pretty much just other than that, he is just like he was before. That is incredible, considering that a bullet went through his brain.
And he says that he knows that Giffords can do the same thing as long as she has the support of her family and the will to get it done. And from what we have heard, she certainly has both.
VELSHI: Yes, she absolutely does have a lot of support. All right, thanks very much for that, Elizabeth. Representative Giffords expected to arrive in the next hour in Houston at 4:30 Eastern. A team of doctors plans to hold a news conference to talk about what is ahead in the road to recovery. You can watch it live right here on CNN.
What happens when you put physicists, artists, psychologists, engineers, a former child actor, video developer and circus performers all in one room? It is a factory for innovation. It is our "Big I," coming up after the break.
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VELSHI: Gah, can't get enough of this story! Before the break, I asked you which one of these people you would like to trade jobs with. The HR firm Adecco is out with new survey results on the topic. I don't even know why they put some of these people in here. But it's interesting. Here's how it shook out.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett tied for first place with 17 percent of the vote. Seventeen percent of people said they want to switch jobs with these guys. This may be before everybody knew about Steve Jobs' health, by the way. Maybe they just like the job.
President Barack Obama tied with Martha Stewart with 11 percent of the vote. I don't know how bad things have to be for you to actually want President Barack Obama's job.
CNN's Anderson Cooper tied with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg with 10 percent of the vote. Now, there are two jobs I would think everybody would want to have. Anderson's got a great job, and Zuckerberg's the richest guy - I know.
Lebron James of the Miami Heat got only five percent of the vote. Really? Getting paid to play professional basketball. Only five percent of you. Editor of "Vogue" magazine Anna Wintour got four percent. Snooki rounded out the bottom with three percent.
You don't want to be Snooki?! I don't know. I don't even know what to tell you people.
All right. Today's "Big I" is about a group named Syyn Labs. Members describe themselves as quote, "a glorified drinking club with an art problem." Or "a sensationalist service." They want to be, quote "the engineering is cool" group. "Fast Company" magazine called Syyn Labs, "the league of extraordinary nerds." They've worked with the likes of Google, Disney, Sears and "The Colbert Report."
And let me tell you why you want to hear from these guys. They think way outside the box. They've created an innovation factory. They're an extraordinary group of people creating extraordinary technology and art. Their first and likely most recognizable work is the music video by a group called "Okay, Go." Syyn Labs created a chain reaction for the video. The video went viral with more than 20 million views on YouTube last year. Check that out.
Joining us live from Los Angeles, two of the founders of Syyn Labs, Brent Bushnell and Adam Sadowsky. Google commissioned you guys to do a new project for their science fair.
But first of all, Adam, what is this? This is the kind of thing that ends up on TV because one of my producers, who's entirely geeked out -- I don't understand anything I just said. Who are you guys?
ADAM SADOWSKY, CO-FOUNDER, SYYN LABS: We're a collection of scientists, artists, engineers, roboticists and circus performers. People who come together and love merging art and technology to create really sensational, captivating and unique experiences.
BRENT BUSHNELL, CO-FOUNDER, SYYN LABS: I like to say geeks that take on hard problems for fun.
VELSHI: OK. Tell me some of the hard problems you guys might take on.
BUSHNELL: Well, that Rub Goldberg machine is definitely -- the only thing reliable about them is the failure rate.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSHNELL: So, that's definitely one.
VELSHI: So, you guys are an innovation factory, but this is a nights and weekends thing. Is this a business?
SADOWSKY: Well, it is a business, of course. There's only one full-time employee right now, that's me. The rest of the team definitely - they have day jobs. They're doing things like working for JPL and they're working, teaching at universities and they are at think tanks and doing extraordinary work on their own.
But they come to us to spend nights and weekends putting together things like this amazing Goldberg machine we did for "Okay, Go" or putting together -- making a car organ, an organ made literally out of cars that we did for a recent commercial for Die Hard batteries.
VELSHI: And where do you take this? Where do you go with this? Is this art? Is this solving problems in the world? What is it?
BUSHNELL: We've had this overarching goal to make technology accessible. We want to inspire kids to go into science and engineering. We know the world needs that. We know the U.S. needs that. We think if we can be a bunch of geeks that have a blast playing with fire and electricity and what not and can inspire some kids to do the same, we'll feel like we've succeed.
SADOWSKY: Yes, that's right. As our co-founder has said, art is very much a reflection of ever the tools at the time. Technology is ever prevalent in our society today, and we're taking advantage of those tools to create new and captivating things. And at the same time, if we can inspire young people to pursue careers in art and/or science or engineering, or all of them, so much the better.
VELSHI: All right. Well, that's a good goal. Guys, thanks for being with us. Brent Bushnell and Adam Sadowsky, co-founder and president of Syyn Labs. To check out Syyn Labs for yourself, head to my blog, CNN.com/ali. We'll link you to their Web site and their Facebook account.
Coming up, we're heading to the Sundance Film Festival to talk to a former gang leader turned Sundance filmmaker on the other side.
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VELSHI: It is day two of the Sundance Film Festival, one of the biggest entertainment events of the year. Our own Brooke Anderson, host of HLN "Showbiz Tonight" has a front row seat to it all. Brooke, you've got a fascinating interview for us.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I do, Ali. Hi there. Yes, he's one of the most talked-about first-time directors here at the Sundance Film Festival. Elgin James is with me. He's premiering his very first movie, "Little Birds" here at Sundance.
ELGIN JAMES, MOVIE DIRECTOR, "LITTLE BIRDS": Yes.
ANDERSON: And as you mentioned earlier, he was, in another part of his life, previously involved in gang violence. But here he is. He's turning his life around, a very talented filmmaker. Congratulations, Eljim.
JAMES: Thank you very much.
ANDERSON: Briefly tell me about "Little Birds" because it reflects your life in a way, yet told through the eyes of teenaged girls.
JAMES: Yes. I didn't want to tell the story straight of my own life because I was afraid of kind of glamorizing the violence and everything. I didn't want to lead people toward a life I fought so hard to get out of. So, yes, I just made the story about two 15-year- old girls and the last five days of their friendship, and kind of what happens when you leave home too early.
ANDERSON: Innocence lost.
JAMES: Innocence lost. Exactly. The world is kind of waiting to chew you up and spit you out.
ANDERSON: Your story is so complex, so fascinating. Raised on a farm, pacifist Quaker parents, right?
JAMES: Yes.
ANDERSON: You got involved in gang violence. I read that one fight you experienced was so bad it left you a little brain damaged and homeless. Did you ever see yourself going from that to here?
JAMES: No. Never in a million years. I think I came to a certain point in my life where I had kind of given up hope of anything. Actually, my mom wrote me a letter before she passed away. She was diagnosed with cancer. So, she wrote me a letter saying how it wasn't too late for me to change my life, how it wasn't too late for me to turn myself around and change. And it wasn't too late for a second chance. And she didn't live to see this moment, but I brought her letter with me. So, when my film premieres on Sunday, it's going to be there in my breast pocket. ANDERSON: What a good mama. How inspiring.
JAMES: Yes, definitely. I just wish she would have lived long enough to see my life take this kind of 180 turn.
ANDERSON: This is a major high for you. You're here, you're shopping around your film. It is in competition with the U.S. feature films. Chosen from hundreds, thousands of movies to be here.
Yet at the same time, you are still facing legal trouble stemming from your checkered past. You pleaded guilty to federal charges of extortion. You face sentencing in spring. Are you worried that as your movie may be coming out in theaters, you could be going to jail?
JAMES: You know, it's been important for me from the beginning to take responsibility for my actions. I think as a youth, I kind of thought could fight injustice with further unjust acts. Just realizing that violence begets more violence, and it came around full circle to my parents.
Through Sundance, actually and through the Sundance (INAUDIBLE), I was actually able to embrace pacifism, embrace nonviolence. I've just put all of my redemption basically into the cinema, into the film. The charge is from five years ago. But like I said, I take full responsibility for my past, and we'll see where the chips lie. All I care about is people seeing my film right now on Sunday.
ANDERSON: Well said. Elgin James, congratulations. Not only on the film, but you know, on working to turn your life around and the redemption that you're trying to experience.
JAMES: Thank you so much. I could not have done it without the Sundance Institute.
ANDERSON: It is a special festival. Ali, his movie "Little Birds" premiers on Sunday.
VELSHI: And you just put your finger exactly on why Sundance is different from other film festivals, because it focuses on independent filmmakers like Elgin. Thanks very much, Brooke. Always great to see you. Enjoy yourself out there at Sundance.
