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Background on U.S.-Mexico Relations; What Topics Will Be Discussed By Obama and Calderon?

Aired March 03, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, let's move on now, we have a lot going on to tell you about.

You're looking at a live picture of the East Room where at any moment -- at any moment, a joint news conference is about to get under way between President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. You heard our Suzanne Malveaux talk about that.

So, when that news conference -- a joint news conference starts, we're going to bring it to you live, right here on CNN.

So, let me first give you a little background on the relations between the two countries.

Issues on the table right now, organized crime, immigration and commerce. This will be the fifth meeting in two years between President Obama and Mr. Calderon. The first meeting was in May. Immigration was at the top of the agenda along with drugs -- with drug violence.

Now, by the numbers, in four years, more than 34,000 people were killed I Mexico as part of the drug war, and within 100 miles of the border there are thousands of U.S. gun dealers. Nearly all the weapons taken out of the hands of criminals there come from the U.S.

Now, just two months ago, Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton visited the country and announced a half billion dollar aid package to help Mexico fight organized crime.

That said, this visit, well it does come just 16 days after an American immigration and customs agent was shot on a provincial Mexican highway.

All right. So, Mexican President Calderon met this trip -- met this trip with business leaders who are concerned about recent drug violence. Mexico happens to be our third largest trade partner after Canada, and then China. And it is the second largest market for American products. And again, I want to tell you, you're looking live -- take a live look at the east room at the White House where we expect this joint news conference to begin at any moment, and we're going to bring it to you. We're covering all angles on this, you know that.

So, joining me now live from Washington is CNN's Wolf Blitzer, CNN's Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger, and from the north lawn the senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. Good to see all of you.

So, Wolf, I want to start with you, because I mentioned immigration and the two leaders are going to talk about that. You spoke to Calderon last May when he visited about immigration. So, I want you to give us some insight into what this talk might be like between the president and between the two presidents?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there really hasn't been much movement, as you know, over the past couple of years on comprehensive immigration reform. It's a subject the president of the United States would certainly like to get some movement on. There's not much of an appetite, though, right now on Capitol Hill.

Even John McCain, who worked closely with the late Senator Ted Kennedy, he was in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. But he's backed away from that right now, insisting priority number one is securing the U.S. border with Mexico.

After that, they can talk about some of these other initiatives, some of these other opportunities, but as far as immigration reform, the new Republican majority in the house of representatives, and I suspect a lot of members, Democrats, mostly Republicans, but even some Democrats in the Senate, especially those up for re-election, they're not going to have much of an appetite for what so many of the critics call amnesty for some of the illegal -- millions of illegal immigrants who are here in the United States right now.

So, I suspect we're not going to see much movement on immigration reform. That's going to be a source of some disappointment for President Calderon. I have no doubt about that, based on my conversations with him over the past few years.

LEMON: Let's go to Ed Henry, who's joining us from the White House. So, Ed, you know the president's really walking a tightrope here. And in the recent newspaper interview, Calderon said -- he really stopped short of saying that he was sort of offended by the U.S., as he says, meddling into the business of Mexico.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And that's a sensitive subject. But frankly, the Obama administration says in private they've got to still keep pressing the Mexican government because of all these issues Wolf was just talking about. Interesting that the last time President Calderon was here last May, immigration reform was at the top of the list, because if you'll remember, at that time, this country was talking a lot about what was then a new law in Arizona, a very controversial immigration law.

And now, it seems like that slipped a little bit from the public consciousness. It's still an important issue, of course, but what you mentioned at the top about this special agent Zapata, a special U.S. immigration enforcement agent being killed in mid-February across the border in Mexico, that is a huge deal. The spread of violence across the border, drugs that are flowing back and forth, and, so, in that particular case, I'll point out, though, that President Obama praised President Calderon because the Mexican authorities helped the U.S. find the killers of that U.S. special agent. That's an important step forward, perhaps, but this is still a huge, huge problem. All the violence, the drugs that are spreading across the border.

LEMON: Now, listen to Gloria. I want to bring Gloria in. Gloria, give us a little analysis here about how this is going to play out possibly with the upcoming election in 2012, when you look at 14 states across the U.S. are considering stringent immigration laws like Arizona's?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

LEMON: So, the Democrats are watching this, Republicans, as well.

BORGER: Yes, And I think immigration could be a big issue in 2012. You know, generally, when the economy is not very good in this country, people tend to be less nice to people who might be coming across the border because they believe that they're taking American jobs. When the American economy does well, people tend to be more welcoming to immigrants.

And I think one of the reasons you see this on the back burner now, is not only because it's playing out in the states, but because politically, right now, the president seems to have his hands full with the Republican house. They have to deal with the budget deficit, they have to deal with raising the debt ceiling, and all kinds of other issues. And one thing I might add, Don, is that what I'm really interested in hearing from the President today is hearing him talk about Libya.

LEMON: Yes.

BORGER: We have heard him say in a written statement that Gadhafi must go, but we have not heard those words from his mouth. And I'm sure he's going to be getting questions about whether we are willing to participate in some kind of no-fly zone, and all other kinds of options that seem to be on the table, vis-a-vis with (ph) Mr. Gadhafi. So, we really need to hear from the president on that.

LEMON: Well, he has -- he's released a statement saying that it's time for Gadhafi to go and said he doesn't have the confidence of his people, and the confidence to rule that country. So, it will be interesting to see if he talks about it in this particular setting. I'm not sure if he will, but I know you said you'd like to talk about it.

Wolf, I want to go back to you, because I read something here that I thought was very important. And when we talked -- when we were talking about the war on drugs, not only in this country but especially in Mexico, nearly all of the weapons taken out of hands of criminals there, and we're talking about in those towns that border the U.S., come from the U.S. We can't ignore that.

BLITZER: It's not difficult to get weapons in the United States, to go ahead and buy rifles and guns and all sorts of other weapons, and it's apparently an opportunity for those in Mexico who are involved in drugs, drug smuggling and other related activities, to come to the United States, get weapons, legally or illegally, and then drive across the border and use those weapons. It's a serious problem. I'm not exactly sure what the answer is, other than making sure that when -- that everyone is much more cautious, much more careful in selling these kinds of weapons that are used in the drug wars south of the border, and that infiltrate even north of the border from time to time as well.

So, it's a problem. I'm sure this is an issue that's going to be discussed between the president of the United States, and the president of Mexico.

I will say this on the issue of Libya, and a lot of us are anxious to hear what the president's going to say, because I suspect there's been some debate inside the Obama administration on whether or not to get tougher with Gadhafi, what to do right now, what are the options as far as the no-fly zone, the options as far as arming the rebels, the opposition to Gadhafi are concerned. I know there's a robust debate going on inside the White House, within the administration as a whole. And the Pentagon right now is very reluctant to get involved militarily, although they'll salute and obey the commander in chief if he orders them to do something. They'll do whatever they say he -- they have -- the president wants them to do.

But, I'm not sure the president will say anything in his opening statement. He'll have an opening statement, the Mexican president will have an opening statement, then they'll take questions. I believe that the first question from an American journalist will be on Libya, and that will be the moment that we'll be able to hear what the president has to say where he stands on this.

LEMON: We see some movement there, I'm not sure if it's going to start now. But you know, you're exactly right. Yesterday, when the president showed up surprisingly in the briefing room, he said, I will take some questions tomorrow.

BLITZER: Right.

LEMON: So, it appears -- one would hope that he's going to answer some questions about that. But, Wolf, getting back to your point. Even the secretary of defense said -- talked about no fly zones and what have you. He doesn't want this and, Gloria, I know you're wanting to get in on this.

BORGER: Yes, I mean, I think it's --

LEMON: Because (ph) they want that to look like an attack on the Libyan people and an attack on the government.

BORGER: You know, it's kind of extraordinary to me, because the secretary of defense is way out there on this. Yes, as Wolf said, he would salute if he were ordered to be part of a no-fly zone. But he has said, make no mistake about it, you'd have to bomb Libya. And it's very clear that the military is reluctant to go this alone, and I guarantee you that's part of the debate that's been occurring inside the administration which is what is the appropriate response.

Remember, Colin Powell always used to say there's a pottery barn rule, you know, you break it, you own it.

LEMON: You bought it, yes.

BORGER: So, yes, there you are.

LEMON: And, so, Ed, I want to get back -- bring you back in as we wait for the president, and we just saw Eric Holder and others coming in now, so we assume the president's going to -- going to show up with Felipe Calderon at any moment now, and they were asked to turn their cell phones off.

So, Ed, listen, take us to the mood of the White House leading up to this event as you're there now. Talk to us about that.

HENRY: Well, I mean, I think, frankly, the mood is that they're struggling in a way to keep the message of focused on domestic issues like the economy and jobs that the president talked about in his state of the union just over a month ago. But as Wolf and Gloria are laying it out, there are now some enormous national security challenges that they're grappling with, not to mention the budget fight that we haven't gotten into as well.

Just a couple of hours from now, Vice President Biden has now been sent up to the hill, and he's going to convene a meeting in the capitol with the Democratic and Republican leaders to try to dig out of this budget mess.

You know, John Boehner's got a plan on the table, $61 billion in spending cuts. He's got --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: And Calderon is meeting with Boehner, right?

HENRY: Right. Right, but, you know, on the domestic front, Tea Parties, conservatives, others want $100 million in cuts, that's what Republicans originally promised. They're saying $61 billion is not enough. Then you've got some Democrats in the president's own party saying $62 billion in more cuts is far too much.

And, so, the president, according to John Boehner in his words, has been on the sidelines too much during this budget fight. We just averted a government shutdown with a band-aid, frankly, a two-week extension of the current budget just to keep the government running. Both sides are going to have to come together in the next few days here on some sort of a larger budget deal if they're going to finally solve this once and for all.

So, I anticipate Wolf's right. The first question from the U.S. press is very likely to be about Libya. But we're expecting two questions from the Mexican press, two questions from the U.S. press, so you may also see something about this budget fight which has enormous consequences to all of our viewers.

LEMON: Well, they're standing there at the podium bringing the speeches out, so they should be out shortly. So, Wolf, bring it back to you. When you (ph) talked about Libya here. A huge challenge for the Obama administration, especially when it comes to foreign policy, it's unlike anything that we have seen. There's no precedent here for it. And they were criticized for their handling, not having a singular message about Egypt. They've been stronger on Libya, but this is really important for the administration and for foreign policy.

BLITZER: And let's not forget, Don, that a no-fly zone -- imposing a no-fly zone over the air space of Libya has to begin with air strikes by the U.S., or NATO, or other powers, destroying the anti-aircraft radar capabilities of the Libyan military. Otherwise, the U.S., the NATO jets flying over Libya would be vulnerable.

So -- and once you go in and you start bombing those kind of positions, that effectively is an act of war against the Libyan regime of Moammar Gadhafi. And one of the concerns they have right now is that, you know, this would be another Arab country, another Muslim country with a lot of oil that the United States, the Europeans, the NATO allies, are in effect attacking, or would that do more damage in terms of the image for Gadhafi than it would as far as the military potential political benefits?

So, as Defense Secretary Gates points out, let's not be under any illusions what a no-fly zone means. It means starting with a major bombing campaign against all the anti-aircraft capabilities of the Libyan military.

LEMON: We've just gotten the less than two minute warning. Gloria, you wanted to weigh in, go ahead.

BORGER: You know, Don, I suspect -- and Ed can answer this quickly, but I suspect that this is an -- is an administration that's been waiting to see exactly what Gadhafi does, because he could make this decision for them. If he starts bombing his own people, then the decision may be made for kind of a multilateral no-fly zone so that the United States wouldn't feel like it had to go it alone. So, I suspect they've been just waiting to see what Gadhafi's next move is before they make another move.

LEMON: Well, the interesting thing, and I'll pose this to you, Ed, I also want Wolf to weigh in if we have enough time, the conventional wisdom seems to be that Moammar Gadhafi won't go anywhere, and if he does, the question is how many people will he take out before he goes down?

Wolf first and then Ed.

HENRY: Well --

BLITZER: Well, my sense is he's not going anywhere. He's going to fight till the finish. He says he wants to die as a martyr (ph) in Libya, if necessary. I suspect he's going to stay put, he's not going to accept some sort of asylum in a third country, whether Zaire or any place else. I suspect he's going to stay put exactly where he is.

LEMON: And, Ed, they're concerned, of course, as we said about bloodshed -- go ahead.

HENRY: Well, absolutely, and I think Gloria makes a great point which is that it's clear, from what both Wolf and Gloria are reporting about Defense Secretary Gates' comments for example, there's real reluctance to use the military option. But if this continues much longer, it becomes more and more of a humanitarian crisis, Moammar Gadhafi may make this decision for the U.S. and its allies because we've got to underline that. This is highly unlikely to be a U.S.- only action. It's going to be in concert with NATO, as Wolf pointed out, and maybe before the U.N. security council. They're going to be very careful to work with allies on this, but the decision may be made for them ultimately, if this humanitarian crisis deepens, and Gadhafi just digs in more, at some point the world is going to demand that the U.S. and its allies act militarily, even if that's not their first option today.

LEMON: But as this goes on longer and longer, and the more there is bloodshed, you know, we've seen the sanctions against Libya and the vows from people saying, hey, the president said they'll do anything within their power to stop him from killing his own people, but yet and still people are protesting and it continues to go on, Ed.

HENRY: Well, yes, and, I mean, I'll be real quick and give Gloria a chance, which is that, you know, the bottom line is, you're right, the sanctions, it's only been a few days to try and work, but that alone is not necessarily going to stop Gadhafi. You know, the U.S. is looking at other options, we're told, behind closed doors about maybe cutting off all diplomatic relations with Gadhafi, which might matter to him just because when the Bush administration finally recognized him, when he came forward with his weapons programs a few years ago, that was important for him to try to show that he was legitimate on the international stage.

LEMON: OK.

HENRY: But, look, if the U.S. pulls diplomatic relations, he's not legitimate on the stage now. So --

LEMON: OK, they're coming. I have to stop you, they're coming out now. They're coming out now. And, Gloria, I promise you, I will let you speak on the other side. You'll get -- both a chance to talk about it. But let's listen to the president. President Obama and President Calderon.

(INTERRUPTED BY COVERAGE OF A LIVE NEWS EVENT)