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The President Sells Jobs Plan; Protests in Egypt; Congresswoman Giffords Moved to Rehabilitation Hospital; Protests in Egypt Continue Today; More Money in Your Pocket

Aired January 26, 2011 - 10:59   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Carol Costello.

CNN's big stories for Wednesday, January 26th.

President Obama will be arriving in Wisconsin shortly from the White House. He'll sell his State of the Union message: innovation and competitiveness spur job growth. The president will visit three companies in the Green Bay area.

Looking live now at Philadelphia, which is under a winter storm warning right now. A fast-moving nor'easter will run up the I-95 corridor today, spreading heavy snow from Virginia to New England.

Toyota is recalling 1.5 million cars worldwide because of possible gas line leaks. In the United States, the recall only applies to Toyota's luxury line, Lexus. Check CNN.com for a complete list of vehicles.

President Obama, as I said, is on the road today after laying out his vision for moving the country forward. In his State of the Union speech last night, the president called for increase in investments in areas like technology, clean energy, and infrastructure. Here are some of the themes and highlights focusing on the economy.

On the issue of jobs, the president said innovation and education will help put Americans back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the space race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal.

We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: -- an investment that will strengthen our security, protest our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: President Obama also called for tax reform and reducing corporate taxes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Over the years, a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries. Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system could end up paying no taxes at all, but all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and it has to change.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So, tonight, I'm asking Democrats and Republicans to simplify the system. Get rid of the loopholes. Level the playing field. And use the savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years without adding to our deficit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: On the issue of deficit reduction, the president called for an end to earmarks and a five-year freeze on discretionary spending. Republicans are calling for much deeper cuts, but the president sounded a note of caution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: And let's make sure that what we're cutting is really excess weight. Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may make you feel like you are flying high at first, but it won't take long before you feel the impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about what all this means for you, especially if you are one of the millions of Americans looking for work.

Stephanie Elam of our Money team joins us now from New York.

So, Stephanie, this wasn't really a bold speech, but tell us a little bit about how what the president said may create jobs for those unemployed Americans out there.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Carol, I think one of the things that really helps play this out for you is looking at the difference between his State of the Union speech last year compared to this year. Obviously, we were a little close to that recession, and you can pretty much feel the difference.

I first want you to hear what he said at this State of the Union as it relates to jobs. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our times. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: All right. So you hear they're talking about what we need to do, what we need to do to prosper to move forward to create private sector jobs. These are all things that he was talking about, how we need to innovate, we need to be out there on the forefront on the global platform, basically rallying the troops, saying this is what we need to do, this is our goal.

Now take a listen to what he said at the State of the Union last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: That is why jobs must be our number one focus in 2010. And that's why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: Notice the reaction he gets to that. It's a very straightforward sentence that he says there, this is what we need to do, jobs is our priority, I need a bill. He did go on to sign a bill in March, a $17.5 billion jobs bill.

Back then, things were more dire. There was more conversation about getting jobs and talking about how, look, because of the moves we have made, we have actually saved jobs. That's what the president was saying then.

So you're seeing a bit of a tone change here. Even though he spoke about jobs almost about the same number of times in both speeches, Carol, when you take a look at it, you can see that there is definitely less looking backwards and more looking towards the future now.

COSTELLO: OK. So, if I'm just a person sitting here unemployed, and I hear the president say, hey, we have to be innovative, that's how we're going to create jobs, how is that helping me?

ELAM: Right. Well, and the thing is, if it was so easy to innovate, everybody would be out there busy getting their innovation on, right? Like, if it were just that simple to do, then a lot more businesses would be in business.

It does take work. It does take effort.

If you think about it, even big companies like Google are saying, we are staying in the startup mindset, and we work in small groups so that we can innovate. It's hard to do.

But what he's saying -- what the president is saying is, look, if we get people out there who feel free to innovate, feel that they can get the support to start up a small business, they will hire people. And we all know that small business is really what runs this machine. But it's easier said than done, no doubt about it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We're going to be talking to a small businessman in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, so it will be interesting to see -- to hear what he has to say.

Stephanie Elam, many thanks, from New York.

ELAM: Sure.

COSTELLO: We have a bit of breaking news right now. Let's take you live to Egypt.

Actually, we just got -- are these live pictures, or we just got these pictures in?

These are live pictures, protests ongoing in Egypt. As you know, there were thousands and thousands of protesters in the streets of Cairo, Egypt. Young men were protesting corruption in the government. And of course there's a huge unemployment rate there.

So they're back out on the streets today. A lot of these protesters say they are doing this in light of what happened in Tunisia. As you know, massive protests there actually overturned the government, and citizens there in Tunisia hope that things will change.

Let's listen just for a short time to what's going on right now in Egypt.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The poor who are protesting, it's young people who are frustrated that they have no future, that it's very difficult to get a job. Middle-aged people, even businessmen, but probably not the kind of businessmen you are meeting with, who complain about rampant official corruption and favoritism by the Mubarak government to some of its cronies.

So this is not really an uprising of the hungry, necessarily. It's an uprising of sort of frustrated youth and the middle class that has seen its situation deteriorate in recent years -- Jim

COSTELLO: OK. That was our Ben Wedeman. He is actually speaking live with CNN International, so I can't ask him questions right now. When we get Ben here to CNN Domestic, as we call it, we'll ask him a few questions about what's going on.

But this has turned serious. I mean, police, or authorities, in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday used huge water cannons to quell the crowds. They used some tear gas. I understand one protester was killed, along with one police officer. They thought the protests would die down, but as you can see, that has not happened.

When we get Ben Wedeman up live, we'll take you live again to Egypt to find out more of what's going on there.

Another winter storm. Yes, we have to talk about the weather again in storm terms -- Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Don't make me feel bad. Are you over it?

You should be, actually, Carol. And coming up, I'm going to tell you just how much more snow you have had than you should have for this time of the year, and the latest on the track of the storm and what it's doing to your travel.

COSTELLO: Another thing that's quite important -- did you see this, Jacqui? The markets are going crazy.

Actually, a few minutes ago, we passed the 12,000 mark, which is an important psychological milestone. It makes investors feel better about the world.

We're going to get more from the New York Stock Exchange when CNN NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We are following this developing news out of Egypt. As you can see, thousands of protesters on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, protesting the government there. They're alleging the government is corrupt.

And, of course, there's such a high unemployment rate there among young men. That's why this unrest is happening.

We're trying to get Ben Wedeman on the line. He's in the middle of all of this. But while we're waiting for Ben to get on the line, we want to go to Washington and talk to our producer, Elise Labott, because what happens in Egypt affects what happens in the United States, on the global stage.

And Elise, I want you to explain that to our viewers, why looking at these pictures -- why looking at those pictures are so important to America.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Carol, if you look at what's happening to the region, these are some of the regimes that the United States looks to for stability in the region. The regime of President Ben Ali in Tunisia was very cooperative on terrorism, for instance. And if you look at the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, he is a pinnacle of U.S. security in the region, really a key ally on all of the issues -- from Iran, to the Middle East peace process, to Iraq, to Lebanon.

Really, the U.S. looks to Egypt really for stability in the region. And obviously the U.S. is in a very difficult position right now, because it really wants to support these aspirations, these yearnings of the people on the streets of Egypt and all over the region. But at the same time, there is a real concern that this can affect U.S. foreign policy in the region.

And that's why a few weeks ago, Secretary Clinton, when she was in Qatar, she gave this very dire prediction, if you will, to Arab leaders. She said, "If you don't deal with some of these economic and political social frustrations of your people, you are going to sink into the sand," the foundations of the Middle East.

And so the U.S., on one hand, knows that these leaders have to deal with these leaders. But at the same time, these leaders leaving leaves a vacuum for groups like the Islamic Brotherhood and other potential groups (ph) to fill that vacuum. Very concerning for the U.S., and it has to walk a very delicate balance right now.

COSTELLO: I'm just wondering, because after what happened in Tunisia, other countries in the Arab world were worried. And some of them took steps to calm their citizens down. I'm wondering if Egypt is the same.

LABOTT: That's right. Well, over the last year, you have seen President Mubarak take some kind of steps, kind of political steps, to open up the space for this fledgling opposition. You have had more freedom of the press.

If you see, you know, in some of these other countries, in Tunisia, for instance, protesting is illegal. In Egypt, it's not illegal. And you see these people. What they're doing is completely legal in Egypt.

And I think the U.S. wants to make sure that Hosni Mubarak doesn't crack down with his security services, with the military. But certainly countries across the region are taking some steps such as easing subsidies, political reform. And the Egyptians said that they could take more types of political reform.

And last week you saw at the Arab Economic Summit that there are these plans across the whole region to create jobs, to create more political space. And so, right now, what's going on in Egypt is really a key for other leaders in the region to see what they are going to do to answer some of these grievances and frustrations.

COSTELLO: Elise, stand by. We have Ben Wedeman on the phone right now. He is in Cairo, Egypt.

Ben, how serious is this situation?

And I want to tell our viewers, these are live pictures coming now out of Egypt.

But Ben, tell us the significance of this.

WEDEMAN: The significance is that this has gone on now for a second day. The demonstration is not quite as big as yesterday's.

But what we have been seeing is a really harsh police crackdown on the demonstrations across the city, running battles, the police firing rubber bullets, tear gas, basically grabbing and beating protesters with billy clubs and arresting them. We're getting reports of as many as 500 people arrested across the country in the last 24 hours. The pictures you are seeing at this moment is this is the Corniche. It's a main artery of Cairo that runs next to the Nile.

There are hundreds of riot police who have blocked the road here on the right-hand side to stop protesters from reaching the state television building and the Ministry of Information, very much a symbol of the Egyptian state. And at the moment, I can tell you that many Egyptians are not happy with that state at all.

COSTELLO: I was just wondering -- I know that police -- I don't want to say went kind of gentle on the protesters yesterday, but they certainly didn't use the kind of force they're using today.

(AUDIO GAP)

COSTELLO: -- still in Egypt, or did some of them depart for other countries?

WEDEMAN: Well, you know, in these situations, information is sometimes a bit sketchy. There are reports, and I must stress, unconfirmed, that the son of the president, Gamal, and his wife, Suzanne, and Gamal's family have left the country and gone to London. But those reports have not been confirmed, and so we don't really have any more information on that.

Obviously, the regime, as a whole, including the president's family, are shaken by what's happened, because I can tell you, everybody was shocked by what happened here yesterday, the size of the demonstration. I haven't met a reporter who said, "Yes, I saw it coming."

The protesters themselves were amazed at the numbers of people that came out here, joined the demonstrations. So we are living day by day. Every day brings a lot of surprises in Egypt.

COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman, Elise Labott, many thanks. We'll get back to you, guys, as the situation warrants. But thanks for updating us on what's happening in Cairo, Egypt, with thousands of protesters again protesting in the streets there.

Back to the State of the Union now.

There was, of course, one member of Congress who could not make to last night's big State of the Union. Representative Gabrielle Giffords's seat sat empty, a reminder that she is recovering from a bullet wound to the brain.

Members of the Arizona delegation sat circled around her empty chair. Congress and cabinet members wore black and white ribbons to honor the 19 victims of the Tucson shooting.

We do have new developments out of Houston today. Doctors did move Congresswoman Giffords from intensive care to the rehab facility.

Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is there now.

And Elizabeth, we understand doctors have upgraded Giffords' condition to good. So that's just great news.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, that is excellent news. That's excellent news.

Apparently, what happened was they were able to resolve her hydrocephalus situation. Hydrocephalus is having fluid on the brain, very dangerous situation. And they were able to resolve it. So, she was doing that well that they moved her into the rehab institution which you see right here behind me -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I understand you sat down with the congresswoman's doctor for an exclusive interview. What did he tell you?

COHEN: Right. There has been sort of a news blackout here since Friday, but they did let me sit down with her neurosurgeon, Dong Kim, yesterday. And here's what he had to say about the congresswoman's progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DONG KIM, NEUROSURGEON, MEMORIAL HERMANN: I think overall, I would say she is doing great. And since she has been here, she has shown improvements every day. And we are very, very pleased with her progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Now, the last we heard, the congresswoman was not able to speak and not able to stand on her own. We hope to learn more at a press conference this afternoon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That all sounds so encouraging, though.

Elizabeth Cohen, many thanks, live in Houston today.

As I told you at the top of the hour, President Obama was on his way to Wisconsin. We understand he has now landed. When he begins to speak, of course we will take you to Wisconsin live. He is going to visit a couple of small businesses there and sort of continue on the themes of his State of the Union from last night.

As the president speaks, of course we'll get back to Wisconsin.

It's invitation only. Needless to say, it's for VIPs. A Swiss ski hamlet (ph) welcomes the world's movers and shakers to talk about the global economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: OK. President Obama has gotten off Air Force One. He's landed in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He's going to talk to a couple of -- he's actually going to visit three small businesses in Green Bay. He is going to continue on the theme of his State of the Union, that education and innovation -- you know, the American spirit -- that's what will get the economy growing once again, that's what will get us those new jobs. We understand that somebody handed him a Green Bay jersey, because, as you know, the Packers are in the Super Bowl. I know the president is a Chicago Bears fan, but I -- oh, look, he's got the Green Bay jersey right there. I don't know if he is a Green Bay fan, or if he's going to root for Green Bay, but we'll try to get you that important, pertinent information as soon as we can.

Moving on now, the world's rich and powerful are in Davos, Switzerland, today for their annual confab. Think of the meeting as the Woodstock of economics.

CNN's Richard Quest is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "D" stands for decision-makers, destination, Davos. Each year, at the end of January, the elite from government, business and finance take their limos through this tunnel.

(voice-over): They have been making the same journey for 40 years, all in a bid to find some common ground.

"A" is for the Alps. High up in the Swiss mountains they come to create lofty goals.

"V" is for value. At Davos, there is always a lot of talk. Does anything actually come of it, or is it just hot air?

(on camera): When you talk about values, it's all too easy to take cheap shots at the annual meeting as a gab-fest for the global elite. But the fact is, there is value in people who have the power to change things coming together.

"O'" is for organization. This is where everything will take place, in the new enlarged Congress hall, where improving the state of the world seems to have taken on industrial proportions.

(voice-over): The Congress Center has had a revamp. There are new lounges, nooks and crannies, with suitable 21st century themes.

(on camera): "S" is for skis, whether it's downhill or cross- country. There is plenty of them here in Davos. Just don't think of ever using them if you are here for the economic forum. For me, it's more suits than skis.

I think this is yours.

(voice-over): Skiing may be off the agenda, but here we can still learn an economic lesson or two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Classical, slow, but always forward.

QUEST: Classical, slow, but always forward. Heaven forbid you move backwards.

(on camera): Come back here, Howard (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we should always go forward. And you called me and I came backward.

QUEST: Life!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

QUEST (voice-over): A moral we could all do well to learn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Richard Quest, you're live in Davos. Where did you get that music? It felt like I was in a '50s movie.

QUEST: And that was exactly what we wanted.

Look at the view behind me, Carol. I mean, we got a really heavy dump of snow last night. Those trees were brown, but now this is picture postcard. And if we widen out, you can actually get an idea of where we are and how big this place is.

You see why they come here. They come here because it's an environment where originally, they could have their discussions privately.

Now, there are 2,000 people. Tim Geithner from the U.S. will be here. We're expecting the Russian president, Medvedev, any time now to give the opening address.

Now it's a lot bigger. It's a lot more high-powered, a lot more frenetic. But, Carol, at the end of the day, it's still people talking to each other.

To give you an idea, in one session today, standing over one cappuccino, I met the CEO of PepsiCo, I met the CEO of a major construction company, and I talked to the minister of an Eastern European nation. It's only at Davos that you can do that.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: That is impressive.

OK. So you have met all these people, and all these powerful people are talking, and they are coming up with great ideas. I mean, is there a sense of optimism there? Are they going to solve the world's problems?

QUEST: There is a sense of optimism that recovery is very much on the agenda, but there is a sense of worry that it is so unbalanced.

The United States, Europe are still very much in the slow lane of recovery compared to emerging markets like India, Brazil, and China. And what they are really grappling with here is the sea change.

They have this phrase -- frankly, it's a load of nonsense, and most people are walking around here wondering what it means. But the phrase of the conference is "Shared norms for the new reality."

I will give somebody a CNN scarf if they can -- it's actually got "CNN" on it -- if they can tell me what shared norms of the new reality actually means.

COSTELLO: I know. I just wrote that down, "shared norms of the new reality." Hmm. I think that means the economy is going to stink for a while, globally, and we're going to have to deal with it.

QUEST: I'm going to be shameless. My tweet name @RichardQuest. The best person -- I'm shameless on this one, Carol. The best person with the answer that I like for shared norms of the new reality gets the scarf.

COSTELLO: I'm loving it. Thank you, Richard Quest. It was fun and enlightening.

The high school student from Philadelphia who got to watch the president's address from one of the best seats in the house, we'll talk to him after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: President Obama's State of the Union is an important political test. But beyond the rhetoric and politics, it's the people President Obama mentioned and their reactions that offered the most memorable moments.

The president warmly welcomed new House Speaker John Boehner. Obama mentioned Boehner's humble beginnings, his first job sweeping floors, you know, in that bar in Cincinnati. The words clearly touched Boehner who struggled to remain composed.

Now, to Brandon Fisher. His company's drill bits made it possible to rescue the 33 trapped Chilean miners. Fisher was a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. Watch his face here. He's clearly blushing as the president talks about his contribution. He wanted to put a great, big smile on his face but he just couldn't. But his face was just priceless.

But Kathy Proctor displayed no shyness whatsoever during her moment. The president pointed to her as a shining example of resilience, education, and how to survive challenging times. You can see she mouthed, quietly but proudly, that's me. At least I hope you saw it.

All eyes were on the president last night for the State of the Union address. But one young man had a better view than the rest of us. Brandon Ford, a high school junior from Philadelphia got to watch the president's speech from the First Lady's box.

And Brandon joins us now live.

Hi, Brandon. Thank you for joining us.

BRANDON FORD, STUDENT INVITED TO STATE OF THE UNION: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: We searched and searched for a picture of you at the State of the Union and finally found one and we're going to show it to you right now. Are you ready?

FORD: OK.

COSTELLO: OK, here it goes. Roll the tape as they used to say in the broadcast biz.

There it is and there you are. Do you see yourself, lower right?

FORD: Yes.

COSTELLO: That must have been -- I mean, can you describe for us what it was like sitting in that spot during the president's State of the Union.

FORD: It was amazing. It was amazing sitting there and being one of the kids honored with this blessing to sit there and watch the president give his speech. It was a great opportunity and I loved every minute of it.

COSTELLO: OK so you were three people away from Michelle Obama.

What does she look like in person?

FORD: She's gorgeous. A gorgeous woman.

COSTELLO: Did they say anything to you?

FORD: Yes. She took a picture with me and three other students that were there. And she -- she was a busy woman. She had to get around but she did get around to us and she was very kind and polite, nice.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's so awesome (ph). So, how did you score an invite to the State of the Union?

FORD: Well, my west Philadelphia hybrid team got invited because we were here in Washington for the Progression Automotive Competition. We wanted to see the winners. And my team had got invited to the White House later that day. And I didn't have my ID on me and I had to sit outside.

COSTELLO: You couldn't get in the White House along with the rest of your friends.

FORD: Yes.

COSTELLO: So the White House actually remembered that and reached out to you and invited you. So when you got the invitation, when you got that call on the phone, did you think it was a prank?

FORD: I did not think it was a prank. I knew it was very serious and I knew that I guess I had got invited. They did make it up to me and it was a very great make-up. I thank them all for it. I thank everybody who helped me get here and thank everyone at the White House who helped me, you know, get back to the White House.

COSTELLO: We should mention what you did in the contest. You were able to design a car with like high gas mileage.

FORD: Eighty-five miles per gallon.

COSTELLO: That's insane and that's fabulous. And the president was talking a lot about innovation last night and why America needs to come up with innovative ideas just like yours.

So, as you sat there and listened to the speech and that your big night is over, what are you taking away from that day, from that night?

FORD: Well, what I take from it is that, you know, it's always good to be a good person through life and help everybody you can. And, you know, always be the best person you can be and don't hinder yourself. You can do anything that you want to.

COSTELLO: Was it a life-changing moment?

FORD: Yes, it was a very astonishing and very pleasant and great moment. It was life-changing.

COSTELLO: Well, congratulations.

FORD: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Brandon Ford, thank you so much for joining us live from Philadelphia today.

FORD: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Another powerful winter storm takes aim at the northeast. Big travel delays are expected there as the storm moves in. On the tail end of that system, powerful thunderstorms. In St. Petersburg, Florida, firefighters rescued woman who was trapped in her car when a gas station canopy came crashing down.

In the northeast, they've had so much snow, removing it seems like a lesson in futility.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: That breaking news out of Egypt. Violence intensifying there. Anti-government demonstrators crashing with police. Our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is right there in the thick of it. He joins me now live by phone. Actually, he'll join me in just a few minutes.

We're going to take a break. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: A couple of global hotspots on our radar. First, to Lebanon. Following a day of violent protests over a newly appointed prime minister Najib Mikati. He's backed by Hezbollah, which the United States has designated it as a terrorist group. Mikati tells CNN he is not Hezbollah's man and says he needs time to prove himself in the new post.

And anti-government rage is sparking more protests in Egypt. Security forces are cracking down hard. CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman, now live in Cairo.

And Ben, I know you've witnessed some of those clashes. Tell us what's going on.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we've seen is smaller clashes than yesterday because the Ministry of the Interior here put out a statement that they will allow no demonstrations to take place, even though many people still want to carry on the demonstrations from yesterday.

We saw sort of small demonstrations forming in limited areas. In some cases, they got bigger and bigger and the police just went in with their Billy clubs, with tear gas, just dragging people out of the crowds and beating the heck out of it them. So the situation, calmer in Cairo.

But still we're hearing about clashes in the city of Suez on the Suez Canal. And, of course, yesterday, three people were killed in Suez, three protestors. One by a live round or a rubber bullet. It's not sure. One by tear gas. So emotions are particularly high. And it seems that the government has had enough of these demonstrations and is coming down very hard on them.

COSTELLO: I noticed most of the pictures of the protesters are being taken from above. Is it too dangerous for a journalist and photographer to get in the middle of that crowd down there?

WEDEMAN: Well, me and Mary Rogers (ph), the camerawoman here, we got caught in one of the crowds and really had to fight our way out through the police lines to get out of it. It is getting more dangerous.

It looks like the plain-clothed policemen who work for the security forces here are targeting journalists. I saw them chase after one Egyptian cameraman, trying to grab his camera. I've spoken to other photographers, still photographers. They're also being targeted by the Egyptian authorities and that's a very disturbing development for those of us who are out on the streets all day covering these protests.

COSTELLO: All right. You stay safe.

Ben Wedeman reporting live from Cairo, Egypt. Many thanks.

President Obama mentioned a unique term in his State of the Union speech last night. More on the "Sputnik moment" in today's political ticker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A space race comparison draws attention in President Obama's State of the Union speech. Ed Henry, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," live from the White House.

Ed, what's crossing now?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Interesting, we've got a piece up there right now about what was the first Sputnik moment. Maybe some people need a refresher.

That would be back in October of 1957 when the Sputnik I was first launched by the Soviets. That alarmed the U.S., caught the U.S. off guard and led to NASA being created in 1958, launched the space race, of course.

And President Obama's point last night being that once again he wants the U.S. to innovate and basically take this moment of challenge right now to say, we are not only going to match other countries, we are going to actually beat them.

Interesting footnote is the fact that the president, you noted before, is right now in Wisconsin, touring some clean energy facilities, for example, to try to promote his programs. It turns out that very town is the same spot where one of the Sputnik satellites, part of it, just dropped out of the sky and crashed into this town in the early '60s. About 20 pounds of one of these satellites.

A senior administration official told me it is an interesting coincidence, it's not the reason the president selected this town to visit today. But another official told my colleague Dan Lothian the president is likely to mention that during his remarks today. Interesting connection, of course, to Sputnik. Another chance for him to mention it now.

Secondly, you have been talking a lot about civility sort of being the buzzword and date night and everybody trying to come together. Apparently, the memo did not make it to this Georgia congressman, Paul Brown. He basically tweeted during the speech, and I want to quote this directly cause it's not coming from me, he said, quote, "Mr. President, you don't believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism."

It struck a lot of people on Twitter as shades of Joe Wilson shouting, you lie, to the congressman at another speech a couple years ago. It didn't deter Congressman Brown, though. He moved ahead, kept tweeting, at one point telling the president through Twitter, "All children will be poor if we continue with Obama's policies."

Robert Gibbs was asked about that aboard that Air Force One. He tried to take the high road and telling reporters that the president is not concerned about where everybody was sitting, what they were saying. He's just interested in lawmakers in both parties standing together. COSTELLO: Well, there had to be one person to throw a wrench into things, I guess. I don't know. It is hard to understand.

Michele Bachmann with her Tea Party response, she seemed to be not looking into the camera. In fact, Keith Olbermann was tweeting all night, because what else does he have to do right now, he was tweeting like, look us in the eye, Bachmann.

HENRY: Well, it gets a little bit distracting if, basically Michele Bachmann is looking over here like this and she's not looking at the camera, you're like, look at the camera. Well, it turns out that she was looking at another camera because Tea Party Express, which wanted her to give this secondary Republican response, if you will, to the president, had one camera, say, over here and that was live streaming on the web. And then, there was another camera that CNN was using in order to broadcast it live on our network, other networks had the ability to use it as well. It was a pool camera among all the networks.

Bottom line is, she was looking at one camera over here, the TV camera was over here. But the bottom line is David Axelrod and other Democrats last night -- David Axelrod was on MSNBC, for example -- saying, am I looking at the right camera, kind of poking a little bit of fun at Michele Bachmann.

She sparks a lot of interest at the White House with some of her bombastic comments, no doubt. But it can get a little distracting when people are looking away, don't you think?

COSTELLO: I think they should fix that if there's a next time. Who knows?

Ed Henry, thank you.

HENRY: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Your next Political Update in an hour. And for the late of the political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Get this. Facebook CEO may have had an intruder bust into his fan page. Jackie Jeras is following the details.

If this is true, this is disturbing.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, little bit. Mark Zuckerberg apparently has been hacked, so to speak. This according to mashable.com. Apparently, someone posted on his fan site quoted as saying, "let the hacking begin." And that message had about 1,800 likes and hundreds of comments on it before it was removed.

This happened yesterday. Facebook reps, we've been trying to get a hold of them, they have not replied as of this time. Of course, Facebook has been under scrutiny for its handling of privacy settings for its members -- Carol. COSTELLO: Yes, it appears they have a long way to go.

JERAS: Little irony there.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Jacqui.

Remember those financial new year's resolutions you made? Well, if you've fallen off the wagon with them, Stephanie Elam is here to make sure you have your spending back on track -- Stephanie.

ELAM: Yes, Carol. Well, you know, 40 percent of people ditched their new year's resolutions by this time, 60 percent have actually kept them. That's according to the University of Scranton Professor John Norcross. All in all, I don't think that's actually too bad, that sounds good.

But as we get into February, or what he calls the survival curve, it's 50/50. And with finance-related resolutions being the number two most popular category, of course that's right behind weight loss and exercise, a lot of people are looking to improve that bottom line.

So if you've already slipped, Norcross says that might actually be a good thing. He says 71 percent of successful resolvers said their first slip actually strengthened their efforts. So be prepared for lapses and develop what Norcross calls a slip plan.

Now if you're getting tempted by your $4.00 daily latte habit, well then have a backup plan to make coffee at home or limit how many you purchase a week.

Also, Norcross says have a buddy system. So call upon your co- workers, family and friends to check you so you don't go run out to the local coffee shop.

And remember, it takes three to six months for a change to become routine. So don't look at your resolutions to fix your problems overnight, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, don't be so hard on yourself.

And Stephanie, you're going to come back in a few moments and tell us more about the F-word. Not that F-word, but frugal.

We'll be back.

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COSTELLO: We're back with Stephanie Elam.

Stephanie, it's never fun to save money, I don't care who you are. But how do you change that mindset? How do you make saving money fun?

ELAM: Yes, right, exactly. Like, whoo, here we go, we're going to make this a whole bunch of fun. Well, for a lot of people out there, if you're tempted to spend, start by being frugal or a frugalista, that's what author Natalie McNeal calls it. She actually paid off $20,000 in debt in a little over two years.

And she says avoid spending traps, so she says get tech savvy. If you have an iPhone or android download free apps like ShopSavvy, which snaps a picture of the product barcode and searches for the best deal at 20,000 local and online retailers.

Also, you can look for coupon saving apps like Coupon Sherpa for the iPhone which finds in-store coupons and allows you to e-mail coupons to your friends.

Also, she points out that you can bring the frugal fun home. Have happy hour at home with your friends before you go out and have friends bring a battle of wine that costs $10 or less.

Or cook using all those seemingly random ingredients in your fridge. McNeal recommends the website supercook.com, get this, where you put in the ingredients in your home, whatever you got there, and it finds recipes to work with what you've got.

So the idea here, waste not, want not, Carol, and resolve to stay at it and save some money.

COSTELLO: All I have in my refrigerate is a tub of yogurt, that's it.

ELAM: And maybe mustard, something really random.

COSTELLO: OK, I'll go to that website and see what they say.

Thank you very much, Stephanie Elam.