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State of the Union Address Now Eight Hours Away; The President You and Yours; How the Cookie Crumbles; Emanuel Back on Chicago Ballot; Anti-Government Protests in Egypt; President Obama on Afghanistan/Iraq; Report on the President at CNN Blog; Where to Rent Versus Buy; Home Price Slump Deepens; State of the Union Secrets; Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani Sentenced to Life in Prison; Day of Rage in Lebanon; Kinect-Like Technology For Your PC & TV
Aired January 25, 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, you have yourself a great afternoon. Thank you so much.
Hey, this State of the Union that you've been talking about is the biggest annual spectacle in American politics. The president's report to Congress on the state of the union. Now, the Constitution, as you heard Carol say, demands it, though not necessarily yearly and not necessarily in person.
This year's address, now eight hours away, which will happen at the Capitol, that you just saw there, comes at a turning point. Americans are more optimistic than we've been in almost four years. I've been having this discussion endlessly on Twitter with some of you today who say absolutely not, it's not true. Well, you know what, the polls say it is true.
Congress, however, is more divided than it's been in a very long time. The midterm elections put Republicans in charge of the House, and they created a Tea Party caucus that is a force unto itself. We'll talk about that. It's going to show itself this evening.
Well, a brand-new CNN poll shows that we the people still care most about the economy. That has not changed in about three years. It's still the number one issue. But check out this list of other extremely important issues. That's the word that was used on the poll. Unemployment, more than 54 percent of you think that's extremely important for the President and Congress. Health care, the deficit, they're all running above 50 percent. And almost there, 47 percent, social security. What's -- what are all those got in common? Money, money, money, and money. Non-money issues fall lower on the list. Education, 47 percent; terrorism, 45 percent; Afghanistan, 36 percent; Iraq, 34 percent; and gay marriage, 15 percent.
For all the fury and the sound, gay marriage is seen by -- as extremely important by only 15 percent of the population. Well, I mentioned optimism. 43 percent of us say that things are going well in America. 56 percent feel the opposite. So, for those of you who say we are wrong, everybody isn't confident, look at the numbers, look at that just compared to December. It was just 29 percent who thought things were doing well. 71 percent thought things were going badly. That is a massive, massive shift.
Now, there's a partisan slant to this but not the slant that you would expect. Democrats, in spite of the GOP juggernaut in November, not only are the most optimistic political party by far, they say they're far happier than they were a month ago. Look at that. Democrats went from 41 percent, in December, to 65 percent, now. Republicans increased as well from 19 percent to 24. Independents have had a big gain as well, saying, in December, that 25 percent of them -- in December saying things were going well, now 41 percent. That's the big picture, OK?
I've been asking on Facebook and Twitter for your take on the State of the Union. What, specifically, do you want to hear from President Obama? And I've collected some of those thoughts. I want to put them on TV for you. Laura, the ex-pat says, issue number one, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. And why so much of the U.S. population has not been part of the recovery. That is an astute observation. Peno313 wants, Legislation reform! The government should work for the people and end its perverse relationship with corporations and lobbyists. On Facebook, Rory Lance says, she wants to hear that social security is security for our society. That the greatness of a nation is measured by the quality of life experienced by the neediest of its citizens, not the accumulation acquired by the richest. Again, nuanced. Very, very, very smart. And Franky Goodman says, I would like to hear him say, my family is coming home from Afghanistan. My nephew is on his sixth tour of Afghanistan and Iraq. It's time to bring our boys home and let them enjoy some freedom.
Now, I want to tap the views of three people with unique backgrounds and insights. Gloria Borger, CNN's Senior Political Analyst, joins me from Washington. Mark Spoda, Founder and Chairman of the Memphis Tea Party in Nashville, Tennessee.
I want to talk to you both about this. Welcome. Mark, I want to start with you. Tonight's going to be unique in that there's going to be a response to the State of the Union, usually the opposition, the party that is not the party of the President, presents a response. Today, we're also going to get a response from the Tea Party. What is the Tea Party going to say about President Obama's State of the Union address?
MARK SPODA, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, NASHVILLE MEMPHIS TEA PARTY: You know, looking at some of the initial reporting, it's very clear that the President's going to talk about this idea of investment. And we've changed the tone, obviously, in Washington, but the problem we have is the Tea Party is recognizing that investment, in this context, is more spending.
I think, what you'll hear from, particularly Michele Bachmann in her response, and, I think, you'll hear also in the formal response of the Republicans, is that this notion of changing the terminology is insufficient to really disguise what is, essentially, more spending, more stimulus, if you will, and, indeed, is going to be apathetical to what the Tea Party was looking for, and most people who want to see government reined in. VELSHI: Gloria, the issue, here, is that we really are split on so many different levels. It's heartening to see that some people say the economy is doing better than it was but, ultimately, this decision about more spending or less spending versus more job creation and stimulus of the economy, it really does split between party lines. How does the President walk that line?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN'S SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It does and he's going to say to folks, look, you need to do some smart spending. You need to invest in competitiveness and innovation and research, development, education. Those are kinds of things you cannot afford to cut, right now, because that will help make America great again. And, I think, we're going to see that as part of his theme tonight, which is talking to the American people about restoring America to a great position in the world, in terms of what we produce.
And there is a divergent few. You know, he's going to say, invest and grow, and Republicans are going to say, cut and grow. And, I think, the challenge for all of them is to see if they can find some way to decide that maybe they won't spend as much, but maybe they won't cut everything, so we'll just have to see.
VELSHI: And I'll come back to that in a minute, because at the end of December, they did show some possibility of compromise. Let's bring Pete Dominick in, he's CNN Contributor, Sirius XM Host. He's joining me via Skype.
Hey, Pete, this is an important speech, but the reality is, we've already been warned, it is not going to be big on specifics. Specifics come later. They come in the budget. But Americans are going to want to hear specifics in this speech, and they're probably not going to get it.
PETE DOMINICK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that's right. Americans probably won't be getting specifics, and I hope that, number one, first and foremost, that Americans will tune in. My concern, Ali Velshi, eight million people tuned in to "The Jersey Shore" on MTV. I hope that Americans tune in to the State of the Union tonight, right here on CNN, but, you know, hopefully, people are feeling better.
I think they -- you know, American people feel a little bit better because of what happened in the Lame Duck session. It seems that they compromised. And, then, frankly, the President's speech in Tucson really provided a lot of optimism. It started to heal and it made this President look like a leader. He really took advantage of that opportunity and did a good thing for our nation, I think.
VELSHI: All right, Mark, let's go back to you for a second. What exactly -- when Michele Bachmann, by the way, who is a Republican-elected member of Congress, and who's going to be delivering the Tea Party response, when she gets up there, what are Tea Partiers going to say different from Republicans that's going to actually mean something in this context? Because as we've just discussed, the speech is going to be long on generalities and short on specifics. SPODA: Well, I think, the truth of the matter is that Michele Bachmann is going to represent the aspirations of the Tea Party. I think, the truth of the matter is with her formation of the Tea Party caucus in Congress, in conjunction with her fiscally conservative views, will be helpful for giving voice to Tea Party people, and I think that's important point number one.
You're right, the generalities we're going to see out of the President tonight are not going to fix this economy. And, in that sense, I don't think you'll see antagonistic commentary. What you're going to see is giving voice to a movement which has, frankly, caused this nation to feel better about itself. We, indeed, have a Republican majority. We, indeed, got the tax rates extended. We, indeed, had some accommodation. At the end of the day, though, the agenda hasn't changed, and, I believe, Michele Bachmann will give voice to that agenda.
BORGER: But I can tell you, Ali, that lots of Republicans are not happy that Michele Bachmann's going to be out there giving her own version of a response of the State of the Union, because they think that Paul Ryan, in the official response, is going to speak for the fiscal conservatism of the Republican Party. And, so, they're kind of scratching their heads saying, you know what, we're the official response. Don't -- you know, you shouldn't pay as much attention to Michele Bachmann as you do to Paul Ryan. So, there's a big split in that party right now.
VELSHI: Gives us that much more to talk about. Got to take it away now, but thanks very much. Good to see you. Pete Dominick, Mark Spoda and Gloria Borger. We'll have more discussion about the State of the Union today and tonight starting at seven p.m. - starting 7:00 p.m. eastern, right here on CNN.
Our "Sound Effect" today is a lesson in human nature. Sunday evening in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, a pair of Girl Scouts and one scout's mother were selling cookies outside a shopping center. Well, all went well until a woman who posed as a customer grabbed all the scouts' money, 92 bucks, and sped away. An outrage, right? Well, a local TV station came out, yesterday, to cover it and that's when the really unexpected thing happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's $100.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you serious?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you! Thank you very much.
MIKE DAVIS: We just thought it was so ridiculous that someone would come out here and do something like this to the Girl Scouts, and we just felt like it was something that was the right thing to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cannot believe - because, to me, there are still good people, even though there are people who do bad things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Who says people don't do the right thing? The scouts did call the cops about the robbery. They warned other troops to keep a close eye out on the cash box. Good Samaritans, notwithstanding.
Well, come other stories we're following for you in the NEWSROOM. Breaking news just in to CNN. After a big setback yesterday, Rahm Emanuel is back on the ballot in Chicago. The state's supreme court, the Illinois Supreme Court, stayed yesterday's lower court ruling that he does not meet residency requirements required to participate in the mayor's race on February 22nd. Emanuel moved back to Chicago, late last year, after stepping down as President Obama's Chief of Staff.
Well, it's being called a day of revolt in Egypt. Thousands and thousands of people pour into the streets of Cairo, railing against the government and demanding President Hosni Mubarak resign. Police fired back with tear gas and water cannons as the protests have gone on, they started swinging their batons, too. These rare demonstrations sprang from an online campaign inspired by the collapse of Tunisia's government, a week and a half ago. Among the Egyptian protesters' other demands, well, a higher minimum wage, a check on police powers, and presidential term limits. Prime Minister Mubarak -- President Mubarak has ruled for 30 years now.
Russia's president is blaming security officials, at Moscow's airport, for yesterday's deadly suicide bombing. Thirty-five people were killed in the attack in the airport's international arrival hall. The president said, it was unbelievable that the bomber was able to get so much explosives into the area, and airport security must be punished for their decisions.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed retribution for the blast, but, so far, there has been no claim of responsibility and no one identified.
In last year's State of the Union address, President Obama promised to send more troops to Afghanistan and bring troops home from Iraq. Did he keep that promise? We'll talk about it right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
As we look ahead to President Obama's State of the Union address tonight, we're also taking a look back at last year's address to see what promises were made and kept and broken. This hour, we focused on Afghanistan and Iraq. Here is Tom Foreman.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama outlined a plan for Afghanistan in last year's State of the Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And in Afghanistan, we're increasing our troops and training Afghan's security forces so they can begin to take the lead in July of 2011, and our troops can begin to come home. As we take the fight to Al Qaeda, we are responsibly leaving Iraq to its people. As a candidate, I promised that I would end this war, and that is what I am doing as President. We will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August. But, make no mistake, this war is ending, and all of our troops are coming home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: The President, indeed, put 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan. And, despite the shake-up that saw commanding, General Stanley McChrystal, replaced by General David Petraeus, a recent military review says American troops likely can begin withdrawing this summer, and Afghan troops may take complete control in 2014. Give the President credit, too, for pulling all the combat troops out of Iraq, as he said he would. That's why, even on this long road, we're calling this a promise kept.
VELSHI: And we want to know what you think of the speech and report cards. Head to my blog, CNN.com/ali. I'll also post the results to Facebook and Twitter throughout the day. We'll be looking for your "a" through "f" grades on the following categories -- the economy, energy, Afghanistan and Iraq, gay marriage, government spending, health care, don't ask don't tell, immigration, and the last one, which is interesting to some of you, civility.
Well, Los Angeles, you're better off renting a home than buying one. Is that true in your city? In two minutes, I'm going to tell you where to rent or where to buy. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The housing bust was a disaster on many levels. It started this recession that we went through. But it did have a plus side -- more affordable homes. Home prices dropped so severely in many markets that it completely changed the equation of whether or not to rent or buy in many cities. And that's according to a report by the real estate website Trulia, although this data is something we sort of have been talking about for some years. Trulia did the math and it assigned a numerical value to various U.S. cities.
A low, single-digit number makes the city a buy. Meaning it makes more sense to buy than to rent. While a higher double-digit number makes it a rent city. Of the 50 major cities covered in the report, 36 were better to buy in, 10 made more sense to rent in. Here's a look at six of the top cities to buy in. The six top cities to buy in were Las Vegas, Miami, Arlington, Texas, Phoenix, Mesa, Arizona, and Jacksonville, Florida. These are buying cities.
Now, let's take a look at the six top cities in which it made more sense to rent.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE": Oh.
VELSHI: I know. Look at that. Manhattan, Seattle, Kansas City, San Francisco, Memphis, Tennessee, and Los Angeles. These are cities where it made more sense to rent. And home prices, by the way, according to a new report, continue to drop. According to the latest S&P Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major markets, November home prices fell another 1 percent when compared to October.
Christine's here to join me about this. Christine hosts "Your Bottom Line."
And this is a topic that figures heavily on your show, on mine.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: And it is one of the biggest issues out there.
ROMANS: And we talk about taxes as well. When you look at those rent-to-own ratios.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And then you think about, if taxes are going to rise -- and in many places they could, in places like New Jersey, in places like Connecticut and New York, in California, in places where you've got really big tax burdens and budget deficits -- maybe taxes are going to rise, and that also factors into it. This most recent S&P Case-Shiller report from today really shows five months in a row of month-over-month price declines across the country.
And I wanted to show you specifically the months -- those parts of the country that were doing the worst, because a lot of those really bad spots were still losing home values -- Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland. These are November home values compared to the prior month. So, I mean, think of that, losing another 2 percent in Minneapolis, 2 percent in Chicago. The only increase was in San Diego, where home prices went up just a fraction. Of course you know that they're down a lot.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And Washington, D.C., was also a strong market. Many people say, Ali, that reflects the fact that the center of gravity has shifted, or for a while shifted from Wall Street to Washington.
VELSHI: It may well -- possibly, but it's probably got more to do with the fact they've got a great tech sector and education sector, the stuff that we know drives markets.
ROMANS: That's right. And a lot of money is being spent right now lobbying Congress, too. So never discount that.
But, look, when you're watching the housing part of this equation, it's still really grim out there. I mean the state of this industry is still weak. You and I have talked a lot about, if you're in the right position, this is a great time to buy.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: But you look at some of those cities and all of us know somebody who's got a complicated (ph) spreadsheet that says, I could buy but I'm not right now because I want to ride this out a little bit.
VELSHI: Right. And that's a good way -- I mean the Trulia numbers are interesting because it does the math for you on all of the things that you have to put into that equation. So it's worth looking at. But the realities is, there are still some people for whom it makes sense to buy, because over time, the value of the property you buy might increase.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: Interest rates you might lock into a good interest rate. So it still becomes a personal decision.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: I wouldn't make my decision based on a numerical rating.
ROMANS: And there are other things you need to keep in mind, like the school district.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROMANS: Right? How close you are to a commuter train. How close you are to, you know, your -- where you go grocery shopping, where you worship. All of these kinds of things people put into a formula and they might not necessarily have a dollar sign on them.
VELSHI: These are decisions you and I have struggled with for years.
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
VELSHI: And all the time we've known each other. Do I buy? Do I rent? What do I wait? Are the markets going to come down? Are interest rates going to go down? So it's a good starting point. But I think there's enough going on in the economy that if you are in that spot, you should be actively thinking about it one way or the other.
ROMANS: Yes. And if the job market starts to improve, as much as the evidence is showing, then that means some people are going to start moving again for their job. And if they do, they're going to be looking to buy a house and sell a house and you're going to start to see a little bit of activity again. Right now it's mostly investors and first-time home buyers, quite frankly.
VELSHI: Yes, I think the difference from a year ago is, I think we think that there's one way or the other, in all of the key elements, the key points in the economy, there's going to be movement this year.
ROMANS: Yes, I think 2011 is going to be a better year than 2010. I mean that's what most people are forecasting. And that's just the slow improvement. I mean it's too bad it's taken a year and a half to have a recovery starting to show its face on main street, but I think 2011 could be the year the recovery starts to show its face on main street.
VELSHI: All right. Very good. Christine, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Sure.
VELSHI: And be sure to tune in to "Your Bottom Line" with Christine each Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. "Your $$$$$" airs Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sunday at 3:00. Three chances to talk about your money on the weekend. And, by the way, Christine and I always read your tweets and you Facebook posts.
Updating our top stories now.
Breaking news just in to CNN. After a big setback yesterday, Rahm Emanuel back on the ballot in Chicago. The state supreme court stayed yesterday's lower court ruling saying that -- which said that he does not meet residency requirements for the mayor's race. Emanuel moved back to Chicago late last year after stepping down as President Obama's chief of staff.
Americans are more optimistic about jobs and the overall economy this month, according to the conference board's consumer confidence index. The index shot up to 60.6 this month from 53.3 in December. That's the highest level since last May. The index is still well below a healthy reading. An overall reading above 90 indicates that the economy is solid. One hundred or above indicates strong economic growth.
Demonstrations growing right now in Egypt. Thousands of people pouring into the streets to protest corruption and falling economic policy -- failing economic policy. Things are mostly peaceful, but Cairo police did fire tear gas at one crowd of protesters. Organizers say they hope to capture the momentum of protests that brought down the government in Tunisia. This is something to watch very carefully.
And behind the scenes of the State of the Union. Ever wonder what the president does to get ready on game day? Ed Henry knows what he does. He's got the secrets, plus a little trivia that you can use to stump your friends. There he is. We'll be right with him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for "The Stakeout." We do it every day at this time with our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. The clock ticking down to the president's State of the Union speech tonight. Just as many people are talking about the seating arrangements as the speech. But let's move beyond both the message in the speech -- we'll hear about that later on -- and who's buddying up with whom for the seating arrangements. We want some behind-the-scenes dirt. And that's why we go to our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. There he is.
Ed, tell me what's going on behind the scenes. What happens ahead of the State of the Union, which is billed as, generally speaking, the president's most important speech? ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: One quick news nugget coming in from our colleague Dan Lothian. He's just broken this news that the president tonight is going to call for a five-year freeze on non-defense discretionary spending. Now, what that means in layman's terms, instead of this Washington speak, is that basically the president wants to freeze all federal spending except at the Pentagon, except veterans funding, security, homeland security, et cetera. So across the board -- education, health -- there's going to be a lot of cuts, essentially, because there's going to be some things that are frozen. And then you're got Republicans who are going to be pushing to bring some of that down. But it suggests that there's going to be some pain out there over the next five years, and the president's going to lay that out tonight. So, that's one thing to look for.
VELSHI: OK.
HENRY: What's going on behind the scenes right now is the president is actually having lunch, not with me and Dan, but with some of the big-dog anchors from all the networks. They come in. You'll remember, a year ago at this time, we just started "The Stakeout" and Katie Couric came out in the middle of our stakeout.
VELSHI: That's right.
HENRY: And had a little fun with us and told us about the president's mood, what was going on. And about two minutes into my back-and-forth with her, she asked me whether we were live on the air, and I had to tell her that we were, which was a little embarrassing, but she was a good sport about it. We had some fun. Brian Williams was a good sport about it as well.
Now, Wolf Blitzer, our colleague, kind of walked past me. Didn't really help me out with the dirt. But they're behind closed doors right now, the president having lunch with those anchors. This is a tradition presidents of both parties have done where they get a chance to sort of lay out where their mood is, lay out some of the things that they're going to announce later tonight.
But it's interesting because it kind of puts a lot of us -- sort of the behind-the-scenes thing about the media and the White House back and forth is that this is one of those days where we're just all kind of waiting, waiting, waiting for 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time because the president will do that kind of background briefing at 3:00. There will be a background briefing with senior officials here. They're going to tell us a lot of nuggets about what the president's going to say, but it's all embargoed until 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight when he actually says it.
So we're doing all these live shots saying here's what to expect, but we can't really give you all the tidbits because they're trying to hold that back so they don't get ahead of the president. So it's sort of this funny game back and forth. The lunch with the president, by the way, is off the record with the anchors, but it at least gives them kind of a flavor of kind of where his head is at right now.
VELSHI: Wolf's in there, is in that lunch?
HENRY: I think he is. I didn't see him come in. But, yes, actually Dan told me he saw Wolf come in. So Wolf's here and Brian Williams. I saw Katie Couric and others. So, they're here. They're doing -- it's funny, because one of my fellow colleagues from another network was teasing me about how we're always left out in the cold. We're here every day doing the live shots and then the anchors breeze in for a little lunch with the president. It's one of those things that, you would understand this, Ali, not because you're kind of, you know, you're one of those big anchors.
VELSHI: Oh, I'm just like you, Ed. I don't get invited to lunch, either.
When does the president head over to Congress?
HENRY: He goes just a few minutes before. What's interesting, in terms of you asked, well, what's he doing, what else is going on behind the scenes. I'm told by some of the president's senior aides, the president -- his speech is basically cooked, in their words. He's not going to -- he'll tweak it on the margins, but he's not going to make any major changes. The last couple of days he's been practicing it. He's going to do some more practice sessions today.
And the other funny thing is the sort of cosmetics of the whole thing, is that a little while ago, I stopped by one of the president's tailors. He uses multiple people, he doesn't have just one tailor. But George des Paris, who I've used before, as well. He's right by the White House on 14th street --
VELSHI: I've met him.
HENRY: And I saw him before and I told you, you need to come see George some time. He's made a suit for every president since Lyndon Johnson. And he told me he made a black suit for the president, that the president indicated to him he was going to wear it in the State of the Union. Whether or not he wears it or not, we'll see. I mean, he probably has multiple options, obviously. This is the President of the United States.
But earlier, when he was walking to lunch with the anchors, we saw him wearing a purple tie, which would be a little different than what he's done. The last couple years he's worn a red tie. Funny, because George W. Bush as president, used to wear traditionally blue ties, kind of opposite of the colors that are associated with each party.
VELSHI: Right.
HENRY: The red states being the Republican states, George W. Bush would always wear a blue tie. Just the opposite for President Obama. Maybe tonight -- he could change his tie between now and then. Who knows? We'll see. But maybe he's wearing a purple tie to kind of be right in the middle.
VELSHI: And I want to ask you something. You've got a great capacity for retention. So I wanted to ask you some things about the State of the Union; quiz facts that don't really matter whether you know them or not, but they're kind of interesting.
Do you know who the first president was to call it a State of the Union?
HENRY: FDR, because he gave the most, which was 12 of them.
VELSHI: And, what was it called before that?
HENRY: Um, wasn't it just -- it's in the Constitution that you have to give a report to Congress every, you know, on occasion, but I don't know the official name. Was there a name?
VELSHI: Very close. Annual report.
HENRY: Annual report to Congress, OK. But -- although it hasn't always been an annual report. It's sometimes been an occasional every other year thing, but --
This isn't jeopardy, you know.
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: I'm sorry. I don't mean to be difficult.
VELSHI: I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself.
Who was the first president to give a State of the Union on TV?
HENRY: That was FDR, I believe. And then LBJ had the first one in primetime.
VELSHI: Harry Truman, I'm told.
HENRY: Truman, you're right. I mixed up FDR. You're right. Truman TV, LBJ was the first one primetime. And Truman had the longest one ever, over 25,000 words.
VELSHI: Yes. You can just say you weren't born yet or weren't around for that.
HENRY: I wasn't. You may have been. You're a little older.
VELSHI: And then you did mention LBJ, 1966. It was the first primetime.
Who was the first opposition response? Who gave the first opposition response to a State of the Union?
HENRY: I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know that.
VELSHI: Much later than I would have thought. It was Gerald Ford. Michigan Representative Gerald Ford, 1966. HENRY: Before he was president. Well, it's interesting because I feel like I need the voice to help me out here as I feel like this is the Quest segment right now instead of the Stakeout.
VELSHI: I do like the quiz. Maybe we'll do that more often, Ed.
HENRY: You are? That's good. I think you're liking it because you stump me a couple times. And I think you like that, frankly.
VELSHI: Well, you bring me some quiz questions. We can reverse it.
Good to see you, my friend.
And we'll be talking --
HENRY: See you next hour, as well.
VELSHI: Yes, absolutely.
All right. You are what you eat and you are going to know it. So, why don't you -- we're going to show you something about labels when we come back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Happening now, breaking news. After a big setback yesterday, Rahm Emanuel is back on the ballot in Chicago. The state Supreme Court reversed yesterday's lower court ruling which knocked him out of the race due to residency issues. Emanuel moved back to Chicago late last year after stepping down as President Obama's chief of staff.
As President Obama puts the finishing touches on tonight's State of the Union speech, a top aide says he's focused on, quote, "Winning the future and staying competitive in the global marketplace."
As soon as he's done, we'll get a double dose of opposition response, the official Republican rebuttal, plus reaction from Tea Party favorite, Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann. You can see it all right here on CNN.
And Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is blaming a lack of airport security for the bombing Moscow's busiest airport. And he says the officials responsible must be punished. Video released today showed the actual explosion that killed 35 people yesterday. Investigators believe it was a suicide bombing, but so far, no group is claiming responsibility.
A day of rage and violent antigovernment protests rocked the Middle East today. Across Egypt, incredible scenes of thousands of people taking to the streets shouting freedom, freedom and calling on President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Rocks and tear gas filled the air.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has been in the streets and joins us now from our Cairo bureau.
Ben, this is fascinating on a couple of levels -- A, because it's happening, and B, what this may mean for so much of the Arab world as a result of what happened in Tunisia.
Give us some context.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, you know, Egypt is the biggest and most populous Arab country. And when its people start to demonstrate in the numbers we saw today, which I have to tell you, I have never seen, it's really going to shake the foundations, not just of this government which has been in power now since 1981, but across the region.
I mean, what we saw today was thousands of people pouring in from all sides of Cairo with one single demand, Ali. And that was an end to this government that has been in power for so long. And what is also interesting, Ali, is that there were no religious overtones. I saw Christians, I saw Muslims, I saw men, I saw women, I saw secularists, I saw Islamists, students, office workers; just sort of a huge spectrum of Egyptian society, all of them united in that same call -- down, down with Mubarak. So, certainly, it's going to send shock waves across the region.
Now, we don't know how far these protests are going to go. You have to keep in mind that unlike Tunisia -- and I was in Tunisia under the Ben Ali regime -- very repressive place. Egypt is not near as repressive. You have a relatively free press. People can say what they want. But what the government doesn't like is to see people do what they did today -- Ali.
VELSHI: Ben, a fascinating story. We'll stay on top of it with you. Thanks very much for bringing it to us.
Ben Wedeman in Cairo.
Now to Lebanon and what demonstrators are calling a day of rage. Thousands of people filled the streets across the country burning tires and throwing rocks. Their anger directed at the appointment of a new prime minister backed by the militant Hezbollah group, which last week forced the collapse of the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now from Beirut. A totally different reason for protests in a nearby country.
Nic, what's the story there?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the new prime minister designate Najib Mikati has said that he wants to form a government of national unity. Saad Hariri says he's not going to be part of it. Supporters don't want to be part of it. They feel that they've been cheated, that Hezbollah here, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, cheated them out of their leader because Hezbollah collapsed the government here. So, this new prime minister designate that Hezbollah is proposing and the majority of NPs (ph) have proposed, that's meeting with these angry protests. So bad that one news organization over here had their satellite truck set on fire by angry crowds. And we've seen the army facing off here in Beirut, as well, with rock-throwing and stun grenade throwing (INAUDIBLE) on the streets.
It seems to be calming down this evening. But the upshot is, people here don't know what the next government's going to look like, worrying how much of an influence Hezbollah's going to have on it, are worrying if there's going to be any more violence on the streets, Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Nic, we'll follow that story, as well. Lots going on in the Arab world right now and we're on top of it all.
Got breaking news for you now coming into the newsroom. A federal judge has sentenced Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani to life without parole for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Two hundred twenty-four people died in that attack, including 12 Americans. The 36-year-old Tanzanian is the first Guantanamo detainee tried in U.S. civilian court. He was convicted in November on a single conspiracy charge to destroy buildings and U.S. property.
Right now, we're working on three big stories involving food. First, I want to talk to you about labels. Let me show you these. I've got some food here. We see nutrition labels like the one you see over here on pretty much everything you buy, every kind of packaged food, you see these nutrition labels. And basically, you can calculate exactly what the calories are, the fat, the cholesterol, sodium, carb content, depending on what you are watching.
Some people say those labels are not enough, even though they go further than many countries do. They want labels on the front of packages, called front-of-package labeling. It's been a passion of First Lady Michelle Obama to help us make informed decisions.
Last year, Mrs. Obama asked the food industry to design a new system to highlight nutritional information on the front of packaging. The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute are out with their pitch, and it's called Nutrition Keys.
Basically, it contains four basic icons for calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugars. On small food packages, one icon can be used for calorie count per serving. They also pitched this possible option. Let me show it to you. It's a panel of six icons, the four original panels for calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar. But also add also called nutrients to encourage. They define those as potassium, fiber, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium and iron.
These labels aren't out on food labels yet. You could start seeing them in the next few months. Reminder, they are from the food industry. The government is also working on its own research in labeling. Now, some people are worried that positive and negative nutrition labels are only going to confuse customers. The White House praised the companies for quote, "The leadership they've shown in advancing this initiative." But they're still going to have to evaluate -- they're going to have the FDA look at it and evaluate whether the label actually meets consumer needs. We'll, of course, stay on top of this and let you know how it proceeds.
OK, you've probably all seen Microsoft Kinect. You may have seen it here or in somebody's house. What some people say is the biggest, baddest gaming device out there, allowing your character on screen to do whatever you do, jump or wave without a controller, or wires or handheld anything.
Well, what if you could control your PC or your TV the same way? It's today's Big I, it's coming up, right after this break.
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VELSHI: Every day on "The Big I," we bring you a big, new innovation or idea. Now how about this, a technology that allows you to manipulate your computer or television like this, with the wave of your hand?
Sound familiar? Well, that's probably because you're thinking of Microsoft Kinect. It came out last year with hardware to allow you to go controller-free when playing on your XBox. You have to buy a unit to have that happen.
The hardware was created by a company called PrimeSense, and PrimeSense now wants to bring that same technology to your computer and to your TV.
Now, before Kinect came out, we brought you a live, in-studio demo of the technology and now PrimeSense is going to do the same.
Let's start in Atlanta. Ohad is with me in Atlanta.
You there, Ohad?
OHAD SCVUELI, PRIMESENSE: Right here.
VELSHI: Excellent. Tell me your last name is.
SCVUELI: Scvueli, say that slowly.
VELSHI: All right, very good -- Scvueli.
Let's -- you are the vice president of sales and marketing. Show me how this works. We've seen how Kinect works, show he mow this works.
SCVUELI: Well really the technology is all is encompassed sensor in there. There's a couple of cameras inside and most importantly, the brains of this thing is a chip that PrimeSense developed.
And if you look at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, you'll see the depth map, which is really the output of what the sensor creates. We really create a map of the space that the sensor is looking at, and that allows the whole technology to really work.
VELSHI: All right. What kind of applications could you use this for? You're doing it right there.
SCVUELI: That's right.
So, basically, as you can see, I'm hovering around. This could be your home media center and you could be sitting in the comfort of your couch. And how many times has it happened to you that you're scrambling around looking for the remote control and you don't exactly know where it is? So, we're trying to alleviate you from those concerns.
So here you have your home media center, and I'm doing nothing other than hovering with my hand.
VELSHI: How do you make something happen, to click something? You just sort of move your hand forward a little bit?
SCVUELI: Exactly right, because it's a depth camera.
So what we're doing now is let's take the TV, we're watching CNN -- actually, that's my music. So, let's choose some music. I can browse through whatever media I have, and I can go in there --
VELSHI: Wow.
SCVUELI: -- and select it by pushing forward, in this case, and it works. And here we go. You'll just hit "play," and we're running.
Now, I'm putting my hands down basically is the equivalent of putting down the remote control. If I want to regain control, here I go again. I can actually take the volume, increase it, decrease it and put my remote control back down again, right?
If I want to go back to the home and choose some other application, I'll go back here, we have a shortcut, and here you are back at the center control.
VELSHI: All right. Let me bring in Uzi Breier, he's the chief marketing officer from PrimeSense, he's joining us from Israel via Skype.
Uzi, the technology exists, we've seen it work on Kinect. It's truly a fascinating technology, what happens next to it? So, now we know it works. Who's going to adopt this and how am I going to interface with it? What kinds of things am I going to be able to do with it?
UZI BREIER, PRIMESENSE: Well, thank you for having me.
And yes, it is a wonderful technology and a change of parity (ph). In essence, instead of us having to learn the TV or the PC, the system is now learning us.
So, as Ohad is now demonstrating, you can sit on the sofa and control your TV, watch your favorite pictures, browse through websites, order your favorite music clip, watch a movie, turn the volume up and down, et cetera.
And I think what you will see in the near future is that being embedded into TVs, PCs, GPS, into the car industry, into the mobile industry. It will be all over the place. This is a real change in parity. Instead of us having to learn the machine, the machine is now learning us. And with very small movement of the arm, I am now controlling my entire entertainment box.
VELSHI: OK. Ohad, one thing I thought was neat about the Kinect is that it's really plug and play. You put this little device in and it sits in front of the TV and there's virtually no calibration, you just run with this.
Now to make this applicable to other things in life other than gaming, is it the same concept? Is it going to be some device camera that sits in front of my TV?
SCVUELI: That's exactly right. It could be any number of different boxes. We require very little processing power. Right now, I'm running off a laptop, just any laptop.
But as Uzi mentioned earlier, you're going to find this in a variety of different applications run by any number of different boxes. It can be an Xbox in the case of Kinect, it can be a laptop, it can be any number of different setup boxes or other home theater PCs coming that are coming out all the time really.
VELSHI: And when do you think I'm likely to encounter this elsewhere? This very technology, when can I go in a store and buy one of those things you talked about -- a TV or a laptop, a different computer that uses this technology?
SCVUELI: Before this calendar year is out, you'll be seeing a number of different applications and new boxes coming under a number of different brands.
VELSHI: All right, that's going to be great, I'm looking forward to that. What a great technology.
SCVUELI: Thank you.
VELSHI: You guys have really helped us take a leap into the future, something that we just used to see in movies.
Good to see you both. Ohad Scvueli -- Scvueli, how's that?
SCVUELI: Perfect.
VELSHI: All right, very good.
Ohad Scvueli and Uzi Breier. Uzi, thanks for having a slightly easier name to pronounce.
(LAUGHTER) VELSHI: We'll follow your company very closely.
All right, to check out more on this technology from PrimeSense, head to my blog, CNN.com/Ali. Interesting, interesting technology.
OK, here's something I love, I loved this movie. "The King's Speech," expected to be the big movie at the Oscar nominations. Did it live up to its hype? I'll tell you on the other side.
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VELSHI: OK, it's 54 minutes after the hour. Time to check some of the latest stories we're following.
A federal judge has sentenced Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani to life without parole for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The attacks killed 224 people including 12 Americans. The 36-year-old Tanzania is the first Guantanamo detainee tried in U.S. civilian court, having been convicted in November on a single conspiracy charge to destroy buildings and U.S. property.
After a big setback yesterday, Rahm Emanuel is back on the ballot in Chicago. The state supreme court has stayed yesterday's lower court ruling which kicked him out of the mayor's race because of residency issues. Emanuel moved back to Chicago late last year after stepping down as President Obama's chief of staff.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is blaming a lack of airport security at a bombing at Moscow's busiest airport yesterday. He says the officials responsible must be punished. Video released today shows the actual explosion that killed 35 people yesterday. Investigators believe it was a suicide bombing, but so far no group is claiming responsibility.
Well, are you ready for the Academy Awards? The 2011 nominations were announced this morning by Monique and Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "The Social Network" is up for eight awards. The movie about a stuttering British monarch, "The King's Speech," gathered 12 nominations and is a front-runner. And the cowboy remake "True Grit," another I enjoyed, is nominated 10 times.
All right, I get sports rivalries and how they get folks riled up. What I don't get is how they can help you get fired. The odd explanation straight ahead.
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VELSHI: Well, sure, he used to run around in his skivvies flexing, but that doesn't mean "The Body" is up for grabs. Topping "Odds and Ends" today, former Minnesota Governor and pro-wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura is suing the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA. He takes issue with all the new enhanced security procedures at the airport calling them unreasonable searches that violate his Fourth Amendment rights. Apparently Ventura's titanium hip replacement earns him lots of pat-downs. Meanwhile, full disclosure, the former governor has a show on truTV, like CNN, a Time Warner network.
OK, to Chicago now where this car salesman suddenly is looking for a new job. His grandma just died. Since he was a huge Green Bay Packers fan, he decided to honor her memory and maybe the team's NFC's win by wearing a Green Bay tie to work. Sure the design is not for everybody, but it is Da Bears country and who would have thought he'd get fired for it? I'm no football guy, but I believe they call this unnecessary roughness.
Finally, they've been the Fantastic Four for forever, 50 years anyway, but the comic book superheroes are turning into a trio. The latest issue of "The Fantastic Four" hit the shelves today after tossing fans a big cliffhanger. Marvel Comics has hinted one of the group would meet their demise. We won't ruin it with a total spoiler, but fans of the Human Torch might get fired up when they see the new issue.
