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Traffic Spoke on Healthcare.gov; Top Political Moments of 2013; NY Mayor-Elect Reveals Family Secret; Smaller Airplane Seat Spacing Causes Tension; Economy Making a Scrooge Christmas.
Aired December 24, 2013 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: It's one step in the process. But so that was 2013. I'm sure the president is just thrilled to kind of leave it behind him. He laughed off in his press conference that 2013 was his worst year. But if you look at polls, it really was. He's trying to look to 2014. He's put some priorities out there. What do you think he can accomplish and what is he going to have a lot of difficulty with?
ZEKE MILLER, POLITICAL REPORTER, TIME MAGAZINE: The hardest thing for him is getting anything through Congress. Certainly, that's been a challenge this year, gun control, immigration reform. You know, the challenge over the budgetary issues, the shutdown. That's going to be an issue. We've seen the big staffing changes over the past couple weeks, bringing in John Podesta as a senior advisor, a former Clinton chief of staff, who is very knowledgeable about executive orders. That's a big area.
KEILAR: And Capitol Hill.
MILLER: And Capitol Hill. But not really. That's not where his focus will be.
KEILAR: Circumventing Congress.
MILLER: That's the way to put it. Things like climate change, things that they sort of put on the back burner as they tried to work with Congress. Now we're going into a midterm year. Congress is a maybe month or two on the debt limit before they start campaigning for their own seats. That's where things will turn. They'll start focusing on ways to work around Congress, working getting things passed and changed despite Congress, not with them.
KEILAR: But the biggest thing would be, for his legacy, would be immigration reform. He needs Congress to do that, right? I mean, can he do anything on that?
MILLER: Republicans have hinted they'd be open to some smaller bits of immigration reform but the comprehensive package that we saw pass through the Senate is wildly acknowledged in Washington to be dead at least right now. I mean, if we're having a conversation after the 2014 midterms, maybe in the lame duck session, depending how things turn out, or in 2014 with the new Congress, if the boat is shaken up a bit. But it's probably unlikely. Immigration reform will be hard to get through in this Congress and probably the one after that too.
KEILAR: You mentioned 2014. Let's talk lastly about that. That matters for President Obama. He doesn't want to obviously lose the Senate. You know, he maybe isn't going to, but he'll face maybe a divided Congress again. Democrats are scared right now of where he's at because they're attached to him. What does the landscape of Washington and where President Obama is, what does that mean for the 2014 midterms?
MILLER: There's definitely been a bit of a whiplash going off the end of the shutdown where Democrats are riding high. Their poll numbers were skyrocketing. Republican poll numbers are sort of -- were going down the tubes. And then almost immediately, with the Obamacare narrative, that's really the past two months, it's been Democrats in trouble, Democrats struggling, trying to find a way to recover from this. It's probably going to equalize and end up just about where we were before all this drama happened in September.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
MILLER: Probably won't be too much change. The Democrats complain. Congressional Democrats have been complaining the president not doing enough to help them out for four and a half years, five years now. They're definitely trying to take steps to campaign for the Democratic Senators and congressmen. The president has had a number of fundraisers over the past year, raising millions upon millions of dollars for them. It's a priority for him now, more so than ever before. He needs Congress to get things like immigration done.
KEILAR: We will be watching it at the White House.
And, Zeke Miller, of "Time" magazine, thanks for coming in.
MILLER: Thanks for having me on.
KEILAR: What a year it has been, especially on Capitol Hill, where Congress has spent a lot of time fighting. You heard us talking about that, not a lot of time getting things done. Personalities clashed and shown on the national stage.
Our chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley, takes a look at the top ten moments of 2013.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the year of living angrily.
SEN. HARRY REID, (D-NV), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Sit down and shut up.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Do you stand for your country? Or do you want to take it down?
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: This place is a mess.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: I resoundingly reject that allegation.
CROWLEY: White hot rhetoric, icy cold relationships.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I, Barack Hussein Obama --
CROWLEY: That said, 2013 was started as inaugural years often do.
OBAMA: -- so help me God.
CROWLEY: Nicely enough.
OBAMA: My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment and we will seize it.
CROWLEY: He was a popular president with an ambitious agenda, revamping the tax code, reforming schools, better job training, a new energy policy and improve the voting process, immigration reform and gun control. None of it has happened. Turns out, January was the kindest month. The president ends the year with an approval rating that has gone south and focused on saving the health care reform he won in the first term.
OBAMA: There was a time when I was a young invincible.
(LAUGHTER)
After five years in this office, people don't call me that anymore.
CROWLEY: Another year like this and they will call him lame duck.
Pau, Cruz and Rubio, sons of the Tea Party, newbies on the block, 2016 rising.
This son of Cuban immigrants catapulted to star status pushing his reluctant party toward immigration reform.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA: And I simply wasn't going to leave it to Democrats alone to figure out how to fix it.
CROWLEY: Libertarian at heart, Republican by party, Rand Paul blocked a presidential nominee trying to get clarity on the administration's use of drones
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY: I will speak until I can no longer speak.
CROWLEY: And a one-off politician from the Lone Star state.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS: Thank you very much.
CROWLEY: Ted Cruz staged an overnight faux fill buster to make the case against Obamacare, filling time with a bedtime story for his kids.
CRUZ: I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam I Am.
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: Welcome to New Jersey.
(CHEERING)
CROWLEY: In a moment all his own, another of the 2016s rising, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wins a landslide re-election and sounds like he's opening a presidential campaign.
CHRISTIE: I know that if we can do this in Trenton, New Jersey, maybe the folks in Washington, d. c., should tune in their TVs right now. See how it's done.
(CHEERING)
CROWLEY: Also in a league all her own, the former first lady, former Senator, former secretary of state left Washington for, hmm, something else, but not without a few choice words.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The fact is, we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they would go kill Americans. What difference, at this point, does it make?
CROWLEY: Hillary Clinton's Benghazi moment. If she runs for president, expect Republicans to make it a TV ad moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I now declare you spouses for life.
CROWLEY: Number five, brought to you by the U.S. Supreme Court. Less a 2013 moment, than a page in history for gay rights.
Under the cover of boring, Senate Democrats blew up the status quo with the first major rules change in more than three decades, banning filibusters for all presidential nominees, except the Supreme Court and sending Republicans into orbit.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: And let's not forget about the raw power, the raw power at play here.
CROWLEY: The change will essentially give any president with a Senate majority the power to reshape the lean of federal courts. This 2013 moment, another one for the ages.
Coming in at number three.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
CROWLEY: The moments that didn't happen -- work left undone, mega problems unaddressed, gridlock. It's not just about traffic anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Senate stands adjourned. CROWLEY: The first government shutdown. 17 years and people -- read that voters -- largely blamed Republicans, producing the Democratic talking point of the 2014 election, Republicans as obstructionists.
PELOSI: If we don't have our own way, we're going to shut government down. You and that attitude are a luxury this country cannot afford.
CROWLEY: By year's end, Republicans had a counter point, the president's Affordable Care Act. Obamacare got off to a troubled start with the website from hell.
OBAMA: If you like your health care plan --
CROWLEY: -- and his broken you can keep your insurance promise.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: When we get to January 1st, it will be clear that more Americans will have lost their health insurance than will sign up under the new Obamacare policies.
CROWLEY (on camera): As it happens, the final moments of 2013 are the tee up for the politics of 2014. Shutdown versus meltdown, let the midterm elections begin. Oh, and happy New Year.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: A shocker from New York's mayor elect, revealing a family secret in his holiday message. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: The family of newly elected mayor of New York Bill de Blasio is catching many by surprise. In it, his daughter's battle with addiction is revealed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIARA DE BLASIO, DAUGHTER OF N.Y. MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO: I've had depression, like, clinical depression for my entire adolescence. And so that's been something that I've always dealt with or not known how to deal with.
It made it easier, like, the more I drank and did drugs to share some common ground with people that I wouldn't have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now joining me now to talk about this is Margaret Conley.
Margaret, I mean, it's a pretty amazing video to watch. Why is she now sharing her personal story?
MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, New York's first daughter to be, Chiara de Blasio, chose Christmas eve to release a personal message talking openly and honestly about the clinical depression she said she's faced growing up in New York and how it made it easier for her the more she drank and did drugs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE BLASIO: It's important for people to realize, anybody watching this, if you're suffering and if you're depressed, if you're dealing with mental illness, and that you think that it might have something to do with your drug abuse or drinking or if you're just suffering from both of those at the same time and you think they're completely unrelated to one another, that can getting sober is always a positive thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CONLEY: Now, Chiara goes on to say it's not easy to get sober. She said she had help of her therapist in an out-patient treatment center here in the city. She says it was the hardest thing she's ever done.
KEILAR: I mean, you can imagine and she's got this tremendous story to tell. Margaret, the mayor elect and his wife have been very supportive of this public message from their teenaged daughter, haven't they in the.
CONLEY: Right. Chiara says her parents have both been very emotionally committed to finding ways for her to get better. Remember her father Bill de Blasio is a week away from being inaugurated as mayor of New York. His family was a big part of had his campaign to get elected and it appears they'll continue to be a big part of the conversation. They said, "Her courage to speak out demonstrates a wisdom and maturity far beyond her 19 years. We are grateful every day for her commitment for lifting up those who need to know they are not alone."
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, over three million Americans need treatment for a substance abuse problem. There are websites like OK2talk -- that's the letters, O-K, the number 2, talk, dot org. -- that are there to ask for help.
This is a reminder this season from the de Blasios that although this is a season, a time for joy, it's also the most difficult time for those battling depression and substance abuse.
KEILAR: It sure is. Sort of a gift that she shared her story.
Margaret Conley, for us in New York, thank you.
Well, squeezing into your holiday flight? Airlines are just packing them in like sardines. You know what I'm talking about. It's not very comfortable, is it? What is the cost here? We'll be taking a look, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: In just a few hours, Pope Francis will celebrate his first Christmas in his new role at the Vatican, and thousands of the faithful are already gathered there in St. Peter's square counting down the hours till tonight's mass. Back in the U.S., a brand new CNN poll shows more than 70 percent of Americans approve of the new pope. And among American Catholics, approval is high, almost 90 percent.
And be sure to join me for a special live coverage of the pope's first Christmas Mass tonight for you at 6:00 eastern only here on CNN.
Now with many of you heading to the airport for the holidays, this is what you may expect on your upcoming flight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Give me that.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Huh-uh.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Drop it.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: No.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Please?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: No.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Let me take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: No.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Hey, come here. If you don't stop screwing around back there, this is what I'm going to do with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: If you recline, does that happen to you, that may be the question. It is a great debate of our time, to recline or not to recline. And with many airlines squeezing our knees with smaller spaces between seats, it has led to some tense moments between travelers.
Who better to talk about it than our resident frequent flyer and anchor of "Quest Means Business," Richard Quest?
Richard, what side of the argument do you take, recline or don't?
RICHARD QUEST, HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: I'm the biggest wimp of them all. I do a little bit of both. I sort of push the button and then I just gingerly move back a bit.
(LAUGHTER)
If I don't hear a sharp intake of breath from the person behind, I push a bit more. And I go a little bit further back --
(LAUGHTER) -- until finally you feel that will thump in the back and you know you've hit somebody's knee.
The truth is, there are some basic rules. Number one, do not recline if any food or beverages are being served. Why? It could well end up in the lap of the person behind.
Number two, the rule of the middle seat. The armrest on the seat belongs to the person sitting in the middle. No elbows, none of that. It belongs to them. They're the poor sucker that checked in last, and they're the one that has to sit in the middle. No argument about it.
Number three, if you have anybody, child, elderly, or otherwise, who's at any risk of starting to boot the seat in front, stop them. That's the way you get harmonious relations on planes.
KEILAR: That's right. Don't kick the seat, or you're going to end up with Arnold Schwarzenegger snapping you like a pencil.
QUEST: Well, the other thing to remember, the new planes -- let's be serious for a second. Many of the new planes don't even have a recline. The new seats are supposedly thinner and they're more ergonomically designed so that you get more leg room. It's known as the pitch between here and there of the seat in front. But they don't recline. In Europe, for example, the Easy Jets, the Whiz Airs, they have taken out things like bathrooms and put four seats in, but they do not recline. So you can look for that little button to your heart's content in some planes, it's not there.
KEILAR: But, you know, for the planes here state side, Richard, most of them still recline. There's just a few seats that don't near the exits. People are actually coming up with recline blockers to stop people from leaning back. Do you think that's fair?
QUEST: I don't think -- look, if somebody does something with their seat, they can do whatever they like. But the moment -- the simple rule on any plane, and I don't mind whether it's going to the toilet, whether it's listening to music, whether it's using the armrest. The simple rule is this, the golden rule. Do nothing that could impinge or make somebody else's journey less pleasant. If we all do that, we'll all get on famously. What I cannot stand is both the people who kick the seat in front are oblivious to their children banging the seat, those teenagers -- with the headphones. And those people who no sooner have the wheels of the aircraft got into the air than they are like that.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Richard Quest, thank you so much.
The golden rule. Good to live by in the air and in life.
We appreciate you being with us today.
QUEST: Thank you.
KEILAR: Now, still ahead, why fewer people think that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. JEANETTE LUCUS, U.S. ARMY: This is Captain Jeanette Lucas stationed with the Office of Security Corporation in Baghdad, Iraq. I want to wish my wonderful mother in Columbus, Georgia, a very merry Christmas and happy New Year. I love you so much, mom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Normally, at this time of year, you think you're going to see Santa flying in the air with his reindeer. This time, he took a little time to water ski on the Potomac River. This is an annual tradition here in Washington. Santa, of course, joined by his reindeer and elves because that's how Santa rolls, whether he's up in the air or down on the water. And look. Even the evil Grinch came along on a jet ski. Don't you worry, because his attempt to steal Christmas got him all wet. Look at those reindeer. They're so funny.
Well, water skiing in Washington in December seems a little bit cold. But it's the holiday season.
Jennifer Gray joining us now from the Weather Center.
We had some great weather this weekend, Jennifer. But it's getting a little chillier here today.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's starting to feel like the holidays. All I have to say is Santa really doesn't need to break a leg because he's got a big job to do.
(LAUGHTER)
Out on the water today, yeah, I'm sure it was a bit chilly. Temperatures have been in the 60s. Now waking up in the 30s across much of the northeast. Actually seeing snow across upstate New York. We're seeing snow in Pennsylvania. Actually, New York and Philly could see a few little snow showers as we go throughout the evening. Also seeing snow in the northern plains. In fact, places like Minneapolis could see anywhere from 2 to four inches as we go through the next 24 hours or so. So definitely waking up to a white Christmas in the north, the great lakes included in that. Very chilly across the northern plains. Temperatures feel like 1 degree below zero in Sioux Falls. Rapid City, you're at 22. Temperatures in the single digits across much of the north. Just like you were saying, D.C., yesterday, you were at 58. Right now, you're at 41. Definitely feeling like Christmas as we roll into the next 24 hours. And much of the country is going enjoy very calm conditions for Christmas day. Mostly sunny and staying cold in the north.
KEILAR: Cold in the north, of course.
Jennifer Gray, happy holidays to you.
GRAY: Thank you. Same to you.
KEILAR: We've all heard the Christmas classic "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," but the economy doesn't have everyone thinking it's the happiest season of all.
Tom Foreman breaks down who loves Santa this year and who is siding more with Ebenezer Scrooge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ask Americans if Christmas is a great or the best time of the year, and a few years ago, this is the answer you would get, 49 percent would say, yes, it is. Jump forward to 2008, it drops down to 43 percent. Today, we're at 42 percent.
So what's happening? Is this the Grinch? No, something much more basic we talk about all the time, the recession and the slow recovery at work.
Here's how we know. We said to people, are you going to cut back on gift giving this year because of the economy? A whopping 62 percent said, yes, they will. What about giving to charities, helping others? 61 percent say they'll cut back on that because of the economy. And this is happening in a country where, despite many different religions and atheism, 94 percent of people, in one way shape or form, say they do celebrate Christmas.
So what is all of this doing to what we call the ho-ho-ho factor? We asked people to rank themselves. What kind of Christmas fan are you? The people out there who say they are gung-ho, put up all the lights, throw the party, comprise about 25 percent of the population. The people who are ho-ho-ho, not as much into it, but still pretty keen on Christmas, that's the biggest group out there, 32 percent. Then we have the people who are ho-hum. They like Christmas, they're just not that crazy about it. That's 23 percent. You'll notice this doesn't add up to 100 percent. That's because we've left out one of the big groups we have to talk any time you talk about Christmas. That's the bah-humbug crowd. How many Americans just don't like Christmas? 16 percent.
But like we said, all of this can change year to year. We'll have to see how all these numbers add up with Christmases yet to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Now, that's it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 eastern on "The Situation Room."
NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips.
