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Obama Approval Ties All-Time Low; GDP Grows In Third Quarter; Stocks Gain Ground; Travelers Face Ice, Snow And Rain; Boozy Behavior Costs General's Job; Kids Should Work For Lunch; Dennis Rodman Returns to North Korea; President Obama to Give News Conference;Names of Americans Killed Released

Aired December 20, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. President Obama goes before the cameras and the reporters about an hour from now as he winds down a rather difficult year.

Meanwhile, new poll numbers are out right now on his job approval rating. The president's end of the year news conference set for 2:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll of course have live coverage here on CNN with full analysis. President facing some tough questions on a long list of issues. We'll preview what to expect.

But first, let's get to those brand-new poll numbers. Our Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper, the anchor of CNN's "THE LEAD" is here. The numbers not exactly booming for the president right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Not how you would want to end the year were you the president of the United States. About a month ago, the president tied for the lowest point in his presidency. And we have the same basic number today, 41 percent approval, 56 percent disapprove of the job President Obama is doing as president.

Now, here's something we don't go into a lot when we -- when we talk about these numbers, Wolf. Let's take a look at how people -- why they disapprove. You have the 41 percent approve, 40 percent disapprove because they think President Obama is too liberal, 12 percent disapprove because they think he's not liberal enough. So, one in five of those who disapprove think that President Obama is too conservative.

BLITZER: It's interesting these numbers. And if you take a look at how the president's doing now, how is the approval of the president's job as president now, 41 percent, as you point out. In November, it was 41 percent. But in May, you know, he was at 53 percent. So, he's really gone down over the course of this year. When you compare him to other presidents, two-term presidents, at a similar moment in their presidency, how is he doing?

TAPPER: Well, he's doing -- he's exactly where George W. Bush was at this point in his presidency. Bush in December 2005 was at 41 percent, which is also where Obama is right now. President Clinton in December 1997 was at 56 percent approval. Reagan in December of 1985, 63 percent. As a lot of political analysts will tell you, Wolf, once you go below 50 percent, it is very difficult to get back up there. George W. Bush went down and then he never got back above 50 percent approval. President Obama's aides obviously hoping that he can turn this around and will be able to get up from 41 percent to above 50.

BLITZER: Because he was going down even before the rollout of Obamacare. But that has certainly hurt him politically, the failed Web site, if you will, other problems related to Obamacare. And he's about to have a news conference and it's a little awkward right now. If you go to that Web site HealthCare.gov --

TAPPER: HealthCare.gov.

BLITZER: -- and you go to one of the states you want to log on, they're telling you, you know, hold on, you've got to queue up. We're going to wait -- you're going to have to wait a little bit. They're fixing it. We got a statement in from the Department of Health and Human Services that says right now, HealthCare.gov is queuing consumers. The system is in place while the tech team works on fixing an error that happening during routine maintenance last night. This work started at 10:00 a.m. Eastern this morning and we anticipate this could take two to three hours. But the site will be up and running again soon. It's not very encouraging at this late stage when they want people to enroll in these final days to make sure they have health insurance by January 1st.

TAPPER: And that comes along with the news that the administration has decided to reverse course on another part of the Affordable Care Act which is they are now going to be allowing some catastrophic health care plans that originally people in the administration were calling junk plans. Some of them are now going to be allowed, at least for the short term.

BLITZER: So, for the millions of people who were dumped by their health insurance companies, they don't have insurance. They can now go to what the administration used to call these junk catastrophic plans, if will you. That's a major change on the part of the administration.

TAPPER: Yes. And I suspect that had the administration known that the HealthCare.gov Web site was going to be having a problem today, they probably would not have held a press conference today because that's going to be one of the first questions.

BLITZER: Well, as you know, as a former White House correspondent, before he leaves on vacation, he usually does have an end of year news conference.

TAPPER: And It's awkward timing.

BLITZER: Awkward Timing. Although that four percent GDP number is pretty good.

TAPPER: Good timing.

BLITZER: Good timing for that.

TAPPER: Right.

BLITZER: Don't go too far away.

The president's popularity could go up if the economy strengthens and in the third quarter, it clearly did. The final numbers are now in. They are much more encouraging than previously thought. The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 4.1 percent. That's a big difference from the initial estimate of 2.8 percent. It's the fastest quarter for economic growth in two years.

Joining us now from Chicago, the chief economist from Mesirow Financial, Diane Swonk. So, Dian, what's behind this revived third quarter jump in the GDP?

DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MESIROW FINANCIAL: Well, the good news is that some of the upward revision was because, frankly, consumers were out there spending a little bit more. Once you strip away, though, an overhang of inventories which we're seeing many retailers have to discount at the most aggressive pace since 2008 right now, the underlying number was better but not as good as it could be.

And so, you still have this economy that's improving over the second quarter now which is a change in what we thought. So, this summer, we spent a little more. The problem was we didn't spend enough to clear out inventories where they are and they're right there in many traditional retailers in this holiday season.

BLITZER: So, in terms of big picture, does it suggest the economic recovery has taken a significant turn?

SWONK: Not as big as the headline numbers, but clearly there is some momentum as we go into the end of the year and as we move into 2014. And more importantly, we no longer have that headwind of all the dysfunction in Washington. We don't have tax hikes coming in. We don't have big spending cuts for a change and state and local governments are hiring teachers back. Those are big shifts for the incoming year. You throw on top of that the fed is still with us in some way and you now have monetary policy working as a tail wind instead of sort of charging windmills like Don Quixote and fighting the headwinds of the rest of Washington as we move into 2014.

BLITZER: There are some more positive gains on the Dow Jones right now. Let's show our viewers what's going on. Look, up almost 100 points, 93 points. The Dow Jones now at 16,271. So, this is -- this is pretty encouraging for Wall Street investors and those who have some money invested in those 401ks.

SWONK: It is. And it's also important because housing prices are still appreciating and that's what affects the bulk of households on their wealth. So, we're seeing those two things move together. The issue, too, is that with the pickup in job gains we've seen, not enough to bring the long-term unemployed out. But if you just lost a job or if you're a new college grad, I think in 2014, you're going to have a little easier time getting a job which although that doesn't solve all our problems, it is a major transitional year from what we've seen so far in the recovery. BLITZER: Do you have some economic thoughts about 2014? Some advice for some of our viewers out there?

SWONK: Well, you know, it's going to be a little bit better year. The operative word is little bit and better is important. I think we're going to see it easier to get a job if you just lost a job. It's still go to be tough for the long-term unemployed. And we still have to be cognoscente of, you know, what's gone -- the continued gap on income and equalities. That is not going to go away. And I think the problem is that we all tend to live with people that are like us now. We don't see the spectrum of the U.S. economy. There are really two economies. You're going to see the top tier of the economy and even into some middle income households do better next year. But still, the bottom tier is going to still suffer.

BLITZER: Yes, I suspect we're going to hear that from the president at the top of the hour, maybe even in his opening statement. Rich people, upper middle class people, they're doing fine. But the gap between rich and poor in the United States is a subject that's very close to him and it seems to be growing, right?

SWONK: It is growing. And it has -- the great recession just exacerbated it. And, frankly, really since the 2000 started, we papered over that gap with false sense of wealth with growing home prices that people were buying homes they couldn't afford. And, of course, once home prices collapsed, you really -- especially for those who were most at risk, they lost their homes. They got foreclosed upon and they don't even have a chance of regaining it. Those who received the recession holding on to their homes, they are back in the black again. And that's really important beyond Wall Street because that's a main street phenomena that hits a lot more Americans.

BLITZER: Stock market investors may have done well over the past few years but let's also not forget there are more people now who are desperately in need of food stamps than ever before. Those numbers have gone up dramatically in recent years. Diane, thanks very much.

SWONK: Thank you.

BLITZER: Diane Swonk, the Chief Economist from Mesirow Financial.

Holiday travel plans for almost 100 million Americans could be affected by a rather nasty storm that's barreling across the United States. You're going to hear who's going to get hit with snow, ice, rain and get this, maybe even tornadoes. That's next.

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BLITZER: A dangerous winter storm is threatening to create a travel nightmare on the road and in the skies for literally 10s of millions of Americans who are heading home for the holidays. Our Meteorologist Indra Petersons is tracking the storm's path.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just like Thanksgiving, once again, people are trying to travel during the holiday and we have a series of storms are making their way across the country. We're talking about heavy rain, icing, snow, and even the threat for isolated tornadoes. It's a case of here we go again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): As holiday travelers bombard the airports and roadways had weekend, a wicked weather system could derail travel plans with snow, freezing rain and severe thunderstorms across the country. According to AAA, the wide ranging storm potentially threatening the travel plans of 94 million Americans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thomas (ph), do you want to go on the airplane?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

PETERSONS: From the south to the Midwest, the risk of severe thunderstorms include damaging winds and even isolated tornadoes. Up north, freezing rain will be the problem for Chicago to Wichita. Holiday commuters will have to watch for icing on bridges and overpasses. Snow has already caused issues for air travelers this holiday season. In Wisconsin this week, a plain slid off the snow slicked runways.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know it was happening and they said the airport was shut down.

Further east, up to 10 inches of rain could dampen holiday travel plans. And once millions finally arrive to their destination, who will have a white Christmas? Right now, it's looking like Colorado and parts of the Great Lakes.

Indra Petersons, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we're learning why a U.S. general in charge of nuclear weapons was relieved of duty. Apparently, a trip to Moscow was the last straw. The U.S. Air Force investigative report says Major General Michael Carey was boozing, bragging about, quote, "hot women" he had met and was late to meetings and rude to his hosts. Officials say, Carey's behavior did not affect be nuclear weapons operations. He's now with the U.S. Air Force space operation.

A U.S. Congressman is under some fire for saying students who get a free lunch -- school lunch should work for it. Republican Congressman Jack Kingston of Georgia suggested children maybe even should start sweeping floors for the meals they receive as part of the federal school lunch program. He defended the comment on CNN earlier today saying he never singled out low income students in his initial remarks on the matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JACK KINGSTON (R), GEORGIA: The greater discussion was about the American work ethic and how do we pass that onto the next generation? And, you know, given it to my critics in terms of, well, I did not specify clearly that this was not an indictment on anybody in a particular socioeconomic group, this would be good for all children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Kingston initially made the comments at a local Republican Party meeting this past weekend. A recording of those comments later surfaced on "Huffington Post."

Dennis Rodman's mission in North Korea, he's there to put together an all-star basketball team he says. But is there more he could or should be doing? That's next.

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BLITZER: Investigators in London want to know what caused the ceiling of a packed theater to collapse. They're combing through the wreckage today after part of the ceiling of the century-old Apollo Theater came crashing down during a play last night; 720 people were in the auditorium at the time. Dozens were hurt, seven seriously. Three were trapped under debris and had to be rescued. One firefighter said it could have been a whole lot worse.

Today was the full day of Dennis Rodman's basketball camp in North Korea. The former NBA star is there to pick and coach 12 North Korean players who will take on former NBA players in a game to mark the leader Kim Jong-un's birthday.

After the first part of the tryouts, Rodman talked about his mission saying and I'm quoting him now, "I understand what's going on with the political stuff, and I say I don't go into that venture. I'm just doing one thing for these kids here and for this country, and for my country and for the world, pretty much." That's the quote from Dennis Rodman.

Joining us now the Georgetown University professor Victor Cha, who is a senior advisor during the Bush administration. He's also the chair, has a Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Thanks very much.

And you've got a book, "The Impossible State: North Korea Past and Future." What do you think of this Dennis Rodman training North Korean basketball players for some sort of exhibition match against former NBA players?

VICTOR CHA, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, it is a spectacle for sure, Wolf. And I think in a sense that's what Rodman wants because he's Dennis Rodman. But I think it's also what the North Korean regime wants. They want to portray a sense of business as usual even though there's a lot of internal turmoil in the leadership.

BLITZER: So this helps Kim Jong-un domestically, is that what you're saying? And maybe some places internationally?

CHA: Oh, I think so. Because, I mean, he doesn't get any more western media coverage than when Dennis Rodman goes to North Korea. I mean, if he just gave a speech, he wouldn't get the same level of media coverage in the West as he has with this Dennis Rodman. BLITZER: It would be amazing, though, if Dennis Rodman were to leave, let's say, with Kenneth Bae, the American missionary who was arrested, serving hard labor right now. He's been there for a year. Is that even with within the realm, do you believe, of possibility?

CHA: I think anything is within the realm of possibility with this leader, Kim Jong-un, because of what we've seen so far. And sure, it's entirely possible that he could do something like that. Dennis comes back; Bae gets released, and then he could carry out a provocation against South Korea for all we know. So it's this combination of things almost messing with the western world with all these tactical moves. It's something that he seems to revel in doing.

BLITZER: Some optimists out there have suggested well, maybe this is sort of like the battle days when the U.S. and China weren't even talking in the '50s and '60s. And then all of a sudden, there was a little Ping-Pong diplomacy that occurred eventually winding up in Richard Nixon's historic visit to China. Is that something that is realistic, instead of Ping-Pong diplomacy, NBA basketball diplomacy?

CHA: I mean, it is an optimistic assessment. I think the case of Ping-Pong diplomacy in China historically was different. There were different undercurrents on the political side I think.

But having said that, I mean, with Rodman going there, we do learn things. I mean, before Rodman went, we didn't have very many pictures of Kim Jong-un. And because of his trip, we did. We didn't know his age. We now know his age. He's going to turn 31 next January. We didn't know he had a child until Rodman came back from a trip and said, `Yeah, you know, I held their child.' So even though he goes there for his own reasons, we do learn something from these visits.

BLITZER: So there -- may be propaganda benefits for the North Koreans, but there might be some substantive important benefits for U.S. intelligence, for analysts who's study North Korea? Is that what you're saying?

CHA: Yeah, I mean, I think publicly the government says we're not really interested in the visit; it's a private visit. But I'm sure they're quite interested in watching every element of it, and I imagine they would talk to Rodman when he came back.

BLITZER: How good -- and you worked in the government -- is U.S. intelligence on what is really going on? For example, the president were to say at his daily intelligence briefing why did Kim Jong-un have his uncle assassinated, would U.S. analysts really be able to tell the president why?

CHA: I think they could offer theories.

BLITZER: But they couldn't tell him directly why.

CHA: No.

BLITZER: We listened to a conversation that he had, and this is why he did it. They wouldn't have that kind of excellent intelligence? CHA: It is the hardest -- one of the hardest intelligence targets in the world. It's impenetrable in many ways.

BLITZER: Why is that?

CHA: That's been the whole regime the regime has survived as long as it has when other Stalinist type regimes have collapsed. It's been their 100 percent priority on sealing information out from inside the country. That's been the core of the regime's hold on power.

And so for that reason, and because we don't have a lot of intelligence capabilities around North Korea, it's very difficult to see what's going on inside that country.

BLITZER: I wonder if the president and his news conference at the top of the hour was asked about North Korea and Dennis Rodman, what he might say. Do you have a prediction?

CHA: I think he'll say that it's a private visit. But again, I think from within the U.S. government, they're quite interested in this because of the Bae case and because we're not sure what Kim Jong-un is going to do next.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much.

Victor Cha, an expert on the Korean peninsula.

President Obama is taking action to protect Americans in South Sudan. He's sending a contingent of 45 service members to boost security at the U.S. embassy there. A reported coup attempt last weekend triggered an outbreak of violence that's been spreading all week. And yesterday, a U.N. base came under attack. Two Indian army peacekeepers were killed along with two civilians.

President Obama released a statement saying, and I'm quoting now, "In 2011, millions of South Sudanese voted to forge a news nation founded on the promise of a more peaceful and prosperous future for all of South Sudan's people. Today that future is at risk. South Sudan stands at the precipice. Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past."

Most Americans say the war in Afghanistan has not been worth fighting. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows record discontent for the 13-year-old war, the longest in U.S. history; 66 percent now say it has not been worth it.

The U.S. is rapidly trying to drawn down its forces in the country in 2014. The U.S. military role, though, beyond the end of 2014 is in limbo because the Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign an agreement that would keep 8,000 to 10,000 U.S. troops there after 2014, maybe even until 2024.

Here's an update to a story we brought you earlier in the week. Six American soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan on Tuesday. One soldier survived. The cause is under investigation and the Pentagon has now released the names of the dead. Let me read them to you; 34-year-old Randy Billings of Heavener, Oklahoma; 29-year-old Peter Bowler of Willow Spring, North Carolina; 28-year-old Omar Forde of Marietta, Georgia; 22-year-old Terry Gordon of Shubuta, Massachusetts; 35-year-old Joshua Silverman, of Scottsdale, Arizona; and 30-year-old Jesse Williams of Elkhart, Indiana.

We send our deepest condolences to their families.

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